Devolution

The drop from the floor of the bus to the road was about a meter, and although the squeeze around the universal joint proved easier for Veena than Joshua they managed to easily slide out from under the bus to stand beside it on the roadside.

Joshua knelt down to look under the bus to the other side to see where the other officers might be exactly, if there were others.

‘It might only be the two of them inside,’ said Veena.

‘I doubt that. They would need someone to watch over the guy they killed or knocked out-whatever they did to him. And the driver.’

‘Well where are they?’

‘I can’t see them anywhere on that side so they’re either at the front or the back.’

‘Josh,’ said Veena in a vain attempt to warn him.

Standing up just as a man reached out to grab Veena, he realized there wasn’t enough time to do anything but attack. So he pushed hard against the man’s shoulders, and despite his weight and obvious strength, it worked to give Veena a small chance.

‘Run Veena, Run!’

The third officer lurched forward to grab Joshua but he was too fast and bolted off in the same direction Veena had gone. He could only hope that the officer would pursue him and that he would call the other two out of the bus to assist him. If that failed to happen then Ted would be trapped.

It was clear now that these three federal officers were looking for them. Why though, didn’t they recognize Ted? He was the only Newtonian on the bus. Maybe that would have appeared too obvious if they had have gone straight to their prey.

Joshua caught up with Veena and grabbed her arm to stop her. They turned together to look and listen out for any signs of pursuit.

‘We need some sort of weapon, Josh. How are we going to rescue Ted?’

Hardly out of breath, Joshua strained his eyes; head craned forward as if that might help him pierce the darkness. Where’s the moon when you need it, he thought.

‘Josh?’ said Veena, ‘I said, how are we going to rescue Ted?’

Taking Veena by the hand he looked in to her eyes and said, ‘We have to make sure we don’t get caught, Veena. We have to get to Sydney for my next rendezvous.’

‘What about Ted?’ she demanded.

‘Ted will still go to Sydney. They’ll take him there because they know that’s where we were headed. They won’t hurt him because they’ll think he has information which will help them.’

‘Help them catch us you mean?’

‘That’s partly it,’ he said, resuming his stare in the night. ‘But only part of it. You have to realize Veena that this thing we are involved with is bigger, much bigger than us. We really don’t matter that much in the overall scheme of things.’

‘Is that supposed to be comforting?’

‘No. I’m just stating the facts.’

Veena turned away from Joshua, swearing under her breath. She had trouble now believing Joshua but if she couldn’t trust him then who could she trust. For now, she would just have to cling to the hope that Joshua was right and Ted would be taken to Sydney and not harmed.

‘Come on, we’ve got to keep moving.’

‘Why? You said yourself they will go to Sydney assuming we will go there anyway and won’t tell the authorities because we’ll only get ourselves in trouble.’

Joshua stopped walking and turned to face Veena. ‘Do you want to stay out here tonight, do you?’

Veena thought that might not be such a bad idea. Although it was cool it would not prove unbearable and they could probably sort out some shelter among the shrubs, or dig themselves into the sand a little.

‘Veena?’

‘Are we going to head back to the highway and try to flag down a ride?’

‘Eventually.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘It means eventually. First of all we’ll circle around for a while to make sure they have left us here and then we’ll get back to the highway.’

‘You already said they wouldn’t be following us anymore.’

‘Veena, you’re starting to annoy me. Just follow me will you.’

‘I’m starting to annoy you am I?’

‘Veena!’ he shouted at her. It took a lot to make Joshua want to swear but he could barely hold in the anger rising within and waiting to explode if only to relieve the tension for himself. He was worried about Ted as well. Veena seemed to think she had a mortgage on concern for their friend.

She looked surprised that he had raised his voice. ‘I’m sorry, Josh.’

‘They’ll take Ted to Sydney. That’s where we were going and that’s where we should keep going.’

‘How are we going to find him, Josh? Thirty million people live in Sydney!’

‘Come on, we have to carefully work our way back to the road. We need a ride.’

Stepping forward she took his hand in hers and said, ‘Lead on.’

‘Your friends will go to Sydney as well.’ said officer one. ‘If they continue to be as predictable as they have so far, that is.’

Unbuttoning his overcoat, he sat down in the seat occupied by Veena just a few minutes earlier. He stared straight ahead, not interested in a conversation with 3, but merely making an observation.

‘Let’s go!’ he called to officer two who had taken over the driver’s seat.

3 looked around and felt the tension swirling around the passengers who sat stiffly and silently. Unaware if they were in danger or not, and with the vivid image of the one man who dared protest, being dragged unceremoniously off the bus still in their minds, they were justifiably afraid. As for 3, he was not afraid but worried for Veena and Joshua. It was obvious he was now to be used as bait and his friends would no doubt realize that as well.

Would the obvious risk deter them from attempting to rescue him? Why didn’t they attempt to get him off the bus once they were outside? His hoverchair enabled him to travel faster than either of them and for an indefinite period of time so he would not have hindered them. The only obstacle to him joining them in the first place was the bulk of his chair which would not have fitted through the hole in the floor, but after that he would have been safely away. Perhaps they overestimated the number of officers on board, and felt it was too dangerous.

Officer one interrupted his thoughts. ‘Do you know what you are doing boy?’

‘Riding on a bus to Sydney.’

Smiling as if he expected a smart answer to an obtuse question, officer one added some specifics to his query. ‘Are you aware that your friend Joshua is carrying very sensitive information about the assassinations of two senators, including your father?’

3 turned to him then quickly looked away.

‘He doesn’t know that himself if you are wondering why he hasn’t told you. He takes his orders from mysterious men in mysterious locations one step at a time. At each point the information is added to the disc inserted in his arm so that by the time he reaches his final destination he will have the whole story.’

‘What’s his final destination?’

Officer one glanced at 3 and considered his answer, then said, ‘We don’t know. Nor do we know to whom he is supposed to finally hand the disc over.’

‘How did you find us?’

He smiled coldly. ‘You aren’t very good at covering your tracks. That scene in Narrendra was a strange way to retain anonymity. At each place you passed through or visited we were gaining ground and gathering information as we traveled. What you looked like, what you were wearing, where you went etcetera.’

3 suddenly recalled the dream, in which he stood unashamedly naked in the presence of both Joshua and Veena and listened as the former told him how to become somebody-how to lose his anonymity.

‘Too easy,’ concluded the officer.

‘How do you know what’s on the disc?’ asked 3.

Abruptly he stood and stared down at 3. ‘Enjoy the rest of the ride to Sydney, Ted.’ Question time was obviously terminated and he walked to the front of the bus and took a vacant seat behind the driver.

A brilliant moon shone across the desert landscape coloring everything in an unearthly silvery gray. Through the window of the bus, 3 watched the ground slip behind them and wondered about the future, and feared for his life and the lives of Joshua and Veena.