Authors: Simon Kewin
‘Finn?’
‘We can’t do anything until it’s dark,’ he said. ‘Let’s wait here until then. It’ll give us a chance to rest properly.’
‘But I don’t understand why you want to do this.’
He sighed. Perhaps it was because their pact meant there was some meaning to it all. Some hope. Clinging to that had allowed him to survive. He understood why people gave in, too powerless to fight back, but he’d refused. Each agony and humiliation had just made him more determined. Going with Diane, as much as he longed to, would be like admitting his life in Engn had been a lie all along.
‘You ran for all those years, Diane, avoided the Ironclads, lived free. I don’t know how far away you got but they still found you, didn’t they? They still brought you back here. I don’t think your plan is much more sensible than mine.’
‘I’m not going back in there. I’m sorry.’
‘And what if you’re part of what we have to do? What if you’re meant to be there? What if Connor needs you?’
‘I’m not. He doesn’t. Don’t you see? That’s all just in your head. It’s not real. It’s never been real.’
He didn’t reply for a moment. He was tempted, of course, to give in, run off with her to the mountains. He couldn’t bear to lose her again. He had already lost everyone else.
‘Well,’ he said eventually. ‘Let’s rest until it’s dark. Best we keep as quiet as possible.’
She sighed but said nothing more. Her silhouette was just visible now as his eyes adjusted. A black outline in the deeper blackness. She sat against the wall of the hut, not moving. They would have this day together, at least. That was more than he had ever expected.
Finn turned to examine the machinery of the relay house. The ‘scopes were unfamiliar to him, their lenses and controls very different from those back home in Mrs. Megrim’s switch house. Still, he thought he could work them. He peered all around the nearest one, careful not to nudge it out of alignment. The numbers were entered by pressing buttons that advanced one of the 10 dials by a digit each time. Still, the principle had to be the same. He was sure he could make it work.
The idea had come to him in the middle of the night, a moment of half-waking. He knew immediately that he had to try. It was pointless, probably. Foolhardy, too. But the shimmering heat of the day had encouraged him. They wouldn’t suspect if a few messages got lost and had to be resent.
‘What are you doing?’ asked Diane.
‘I’m going to send a message home.’
‘What? Is that safe?’
‘It should be. They won’t know anything about it in Engn. I’ll just take one of the ‘scopes offline for a few minutes and type in my own message from here. They may not even notice the line has dropped. If they do, they’ll just think something blocked it somewhere so long as I set everything up properly again afterwards.’
‘Are you sure? They might come and investigate. Find us in here.’
‘I doubt it,’ said Finn. ‘Messages need to be repeated all the time. Especially trunk messages. It’ll be safe enough.’
‘But what are you going to send? A message to your parents?’
‘No. Not directly anyway. I’m going to talk to Mrs. Megrim.’
‘Surely someone could intercept the message and read it.’
‘They can intercept it but they won’t be able to read it. I remembered it you see. The code she gave me.’
‘What code?’
‘The day I left the valley. You know I said she stopped the Ironclads, stood in front of them and made them pull up. She gave me a piece of paper. I thought it was going to be a letter but it was just 10 digits, nothing more.’
‘An encryption key for the line-of-sight network.’
‘Exactly. I lost the note pretty soon afterwards. But I memorized the digits in case I ever needed them again. I think she gave me them so I could communicate with her if I got chance.’
As he explained he busied himself setting up the rig he would need. The relay house had two banks of ‘scopes, pairs on each connected by a cable. The receiving ‘scope interpreted a message, sent it down the wire to its sister machine, which translated it back into a sequence of flashes to send on its way. One day, some people said, cables would be laid everywhere about the land, so that they wouldn’t need ‘scopes at all. He doubted such a thing was possible. But Mrs. Megrim had made sure he understood how it all worked. Although the relay devices were fully automatic, they were essentially identical to the manual machines he was used to. As well as the encryption code dials, each had a set of keys that could be used to manually punch in a message, essential when the collimation of each device was being tested.
‘You think she’s been sitting there all this time, all these years, just waiting for a message from you? For all we know she might not even be alive any more. She was already ancient.’
‘I have to try,’ said Finn. ‘If she’s alive I think she’ll be there waiting, keeping one eye open for an encrypted message with the right key. I’ll bet she’s had a ‘scope set up for it all this time.’
He pictured her there in the dark of the Switch House, one of the spare ‘scopes permanently set up with the number dialled onto it. Did she reset it each night so no-one could learn the code? It was what he’d have done.
‘So she can relay a message to your parents? Tell them you’re still alive?’
‘Yes. But I think she gave me the code for another reason too.’
‘Her own children.’
‘I’m going to tell her they’re both still alive as far as I know. Alive and well the last time I saw them.’
Being careful not to touch any of the others, Finn disconnected the cable from one of the ‘scopes that pointed away from Engn. He had watched them very carefully to see how they were used. The device on the bottom left received the heaviest usage. If that was active, a second concurrent message used the next in line, and so on. Most of the time only half the ‘scopes were actually lit up. By using the device on the far right of the twelfth row, there was a good chance no-one would ever notice he’d taken it offline.
‘Can you watch the ‘scopes on the top row for me? Let me know if any messages start to come through on them?’
‘OK.’
Kneeling on the wooden floor he set to work. A bank of keys was attached to each device by another, smaller cable, so that messages could be punched in without vibrating the ‘scope and knocking it out of alignment. The letters were represented by finger-sized brass buttons, arranged alphabetically in a square. Carefully, his fingers stiff and clumsy, Finn dialled in the address for Mrs. Megrim. It was slow going in the low light. When he’d entered the address he typed in the encryption key he’d memorized. Then, finally, he began to type out his message.
‘What are you saying to her?’
‘I’m telling her to sweep the floor and dust the lenses.’
‘Huh?’
‘It’s what she always told me to do. It became a sort of joke between us. Then she’ll know it’s really me.’
When the message was sent he kneeled there in the dark, waiting. The message would reach the valley instantly, of course. But was Mrs. Megrim there to receive it?
They sat together in silence for long moments. The only sound was the gentle clicking from the other ‘scopes as encrypted messages were routed through.
‘How do they look?’ he asked, not wanting to take his eye off the one lens, looking for the tell-tale flicker of white light.
‘The eighth row lit up just now.’
‘Good. Hopefully I won’t have to reconnect this ‘scope.’
‘If you do and she sends, they’ll get her message in Engn.’
‘I know. They won’t be able to read it though.’
‘Unless they have her key.’
‘Yeah. Hopefully they’ll just think it’s a normal message that’s got garbled and request a resend in plaintext.’
‘The eighth row is lighting up again. Now the ninth and tenth rows, too. Finn, they’ll be using your ‘scope any second. You have to reconnect it.’
Finn glanced aside at the other devices. The bottom eleven rows were all lit now. One after another, the twelve ‘scopes on the top row began to light up too. Still he waited, giving Mrs. Megrim as long as he could, not wanting to give up on her.
‘Finn. They’re all lit up now. Engn will soon get suspicious.’
‘I know. Just a couple more moments.’
‘Reconnect it, Finn. This is too dangerous.’
‘A couple more moments.’
‘Finn!’
‘There!’
His hand was already lifting the pairing cable back up to reconnect the ‘scope to its twin. But light had begun to flicker in the ‘scope’s eyepiece.
‘Is it her? What does she say?’
Finn studied the paper tape rolling out of the device as each character was burned onto it. He had to hold it up to one of the unused ports in the wall to see what was written there. He just hoped he could still remember how to read them.
‘It says,
And keep one eye on the bank wall, boy
. It’s her alright. That’s what she used to say.’
He glanced at the array of ‘scopes. The top line was only half-lit now. Had the last one been offline for too long? Would Engn have noticed?
‘Let me know if the lights come close again,’ he said. He began to type out the long message he’d already written in his head.
When he’d finished he sat down against the wall, next to Diane. For some reason he was out of breath. ‘I told her about you, too,’ he said. ‘Perhaps she’ll be able to relay a message down to your own village.’
Diane hooked her arm through his. ‘So what do we do now?’
‘Wait. It might take her a while to reply.’
Diane nodded but said nothing. He rested his head onto hers. They waited together, watching the ‘scopes, terrified they’d all light up again but knowing, now, they wouldn’t reconnect the top right one until Mrs. Megrim replied.
They snoozed away most of the day inside the relay house, waiting for the reply. The atmosphere became warm and thick as the day wore on, more dust than air. They both longed for water. Finn imagined himself swimming in the cool waters of the lake. But they dared not leave until it was dark. Occasionally, one of them would stir and peer out of the ports to see if anyone was approaching, although they could do nothing if anyone did. They saw groups of Ironclads marching in lines across the plains, passing to and from Engn, but no-one came near them.
They spoke only rarely, each aware they would be going their separate ways soon. Occasionally one would ask the other about some detail of what had happened to them over the years. Then they would fall silent again.
‘Perhaps she’s not going to reply. Perhaps she’s been found out,’ said Diane at one point in the afternoon.
Finn shrugged. ‘Perhaps.’
They watched the array of ‘scopes in case they filled up again, but in the drowsy heat it soon became too much effort to keep their eyes open and stay awake.
It was early evening, the air cooling down at last, when the paper roller attached to the top right machine chuntered and rattled into life. They both stirred and, careful not to knock any of the machinery, crossed to see what Mrs. Megrim had to say. The familiar smell of singed paper filled the air. The first words were just becoming visible on the thin strip of paper.
‘Bless you, bless you, my dear boy…’
It was a long message, revealed word-by-word over the period of an hour or more. Mrs. Megrim had been busy. They sat back down next to the machine, heads close together, and consumed each new word by the light of an unused ‘scope port.
When they had finished reading, neither spoke for a time, lost in thought. Finn’s head whirled with all the information. It was hard to take it all in. He was light-headed from the suffocating heat and hunger. He was having trouble concentrating on it all, understanding it all.
‘Shireen’s your sister?’ asked Diane.
‘Yes. I haven’t seen her since I was tiny. I thought she was dead. She was taken to Engn long ago but I never saw her there.’
‘And she’s been communicating with Mrs. Megrim?’
‘Looks like it. Or someone else has.’
‘What is this
Directory
she mentions? I’ve never heard of it.’ Diane sifted through the coils of paper nesting on the floor. ‘Here. Shireen is in the Directory. The true controllers of Engn. Find her. She will help.’
‘I don’t know,’ said Finn. ‘The masters run Engn, obviously. And the Inner Wheel controls them. I’ve never heard of a
Directory
.’
‘Do you even believe her?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I don’t know, it all seems so incredible. Perhaps she’s gone, you know, a bit bonkers. Sounds to me like she never got over losing her children. She could be inventing the whole thing, imagining plots that will bring them back to her.’
‘Rory said there were wreckers receiving messages from her. I think it’s all real. I’ll bet there’s a whole network of people like her, using the line-of-sight network against Engn.’
‘But the wreckers are disorganized. Powerless. They’re not what we hoped they were at all. Perhaps it was different once, but this
Lud
doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to do anything. It sounds to me like she’s enjoying her position of power. She’d rather talk about destroying the machine at some vague point in the future rather than actually doing it.’
Finn didn’t reply.
‘You’re going to go back in, aren’t you?’ said Diane.
‘I have to. Shireen’s in there, in this
Directory
. And now Connor too. It’s all coming together. There’s a plan, I’m sure of it, but they need me. They need us.’
Diane didn’t reply, thinking about his plans or thinking about something else entirely.
‘I’m sorry about your father,’ he said. ‘At least your mother knows you’re alive now.’
‘Yeah.’
Mrs. Megrim had sent messages down the valley to Diane’s own village, to whoever their Switch House equivalent was. He had the impression of a whole network of Mrs. Megrims, communicating in secret, safe because they were the ones who were supposed to monitor the line-of-sight network. He wondered if she’d planned to include him in it all once he was older.
‘I’m sorry about your parents,’ said Diane.
They’d left the valley two years back, never able to settle after the loss of both their children. Even Mrs. Megrim and her spider’s web didn’t know what had happened to them. He thought about his mother’s enveloping softness, his father’s bull-like strength. He was responsible for what had happened to them. If the Ironclads hadn’t come for him they’d still be there now, weeding the vegetable patch, working the bellows in the forge. He tried to imagine the house abandoned, overgrown, but couldn’t.