Vulture's Gate (22 page)

Rusty turned to Quoll and Quokka.

‘In my former life, this child was my son,' he said.

‘We do not propagate ourselves. We are the last ones, Koala.'

‘I chose him before I understood Gaia. I need to speak with him alone. To explain the faith.'

Callum's fists were clenched as Quoll and Quokka deliberated. Finally, Quoll spoke.

‘There is only one path. There is only one solution. This boy has been sent to help the Mother. He is no longer your son. He is the brother of Roc and the last of the Festers. You may educate him in the ways of the faith but he is not to leave the aerie.'

Quoll and Quokka climbed down the rickety ladder, leaving him alone with Rusty. Night was falling, a silky darkness descending over the bush.

Rusty stretched his arms out to Callum. For a split second, Callum hesitated. Then all his resistance crumbled and he fell into his father's open arms. The tears came thick and fast. He cried so hard his voice grew hoarse with sobbing. And all the while, Rusty stroked his head gently and said his name, over and over again. They sat beneath the roosting birds and Rusty cradled Callum in his arms, as if he was small again. Finally, when Callum's tears had subsided and he lay limp and exhausted against his father's chest, Rusty spoke. ‘I never thought I'd see you again.'

‘I always knew I'd find you,' said Callum. ‘Even if it took forever.'

‘You got that from Ruff,' said Rusty. ‘Stubborn and loyal to the end. He didn't want to leave the West. He was convinced we'd find you. We searched everywhere and circled back to the site of the Refuge time and again. We left a message on Peggy for you and buried her in a box.'

‘I know,' said Callum. ‘I found it.'

Rusty shook his head in disbelief and hugged Callum tighter. ‘I'm sorry, Callum. I'm so sorry. I thought you were dead. I thought leaving the iPenguin would help Ruff let go. But he insisted we stay another week. We'd already fought off one band of Outstationers and I knew more would come. The next day, they did.'

Rusty's eyes grew misty. ‘The mongrels murdered Ruff. It was all I could do to get away.'

For a long moment, Rusty and Callum were silent, grief consuming them both.

‘Ruff would be so proud of you, Callum. How on earth did you cross the entire country all by yourself?'

Callum sniffed deeply. ‘I wasn't alone.' The whole story came out, from his time in the circus to meeting Bo and their journey across the continent. Rusty listened patiently, the way he'd always listened to Callum, taking in every word and letting Callum talk until there was nothing left unsaid.

‘So you're not really a Fester, then?'

‘I don't know. Are you really a Son of Gaia?'

‘Absolutely.'

‘Then, if you're a Son of Gaia,' Callum said slowly, ‘that means I'm a Grandson of Gaia, doesn't it?'

‘It doesn't work like that. When you disappeared and Outstationers killed Ruff, I realised we'd made a mistake.'

‘I was a mistake?'

‘Not you. Not Ruff. But everything else – the Colony, the world of men, the endless struggle. I realised there's only one path. One solution.'

Callum felt his head was going to explode.

‘Like what those crazy old men said? You think everyone is bad? What about the girls? Roc said there are other girls like Bo. If we tell them about the girls, they'll have to think differently. They'll want to save them, won't they?'

‘We know about the girls. The girls are part of the problem, not the solution. That's why the Colony has to be destroyed. What they're doing is wrong, Callum. The earth doesn't need girls. Gaia needs liberation from mankind.'

Callum sat up and held Rusty's face in his hands. He had to make him see things differently. ‘Maybe the girls are coming back 'cause Gaia wants them back. I mean, if you think Gaia is a girl, then they can't be all bad.'

‘I know it is difficult for you to accept, Callum, but I believe in this. I believe the Sons of Gaia have found the true path. I'm not your father any more, but you and I can work together, like brothers, to make the dream of Gaia a reality.'

‘You want me to lay bombs? You want me to kill people? Like a Fester?'

‘No, like a true Son of Gaia. Not for your own ends, not out of rage but out of love. I took the name of Koala since the koala has been lost to Gaia because of the pestilence of men. Each of us takes a name to symbolise Gaia's grief. It's an act of love. Everything we do is for love.'

Callum looked away. Rusty took his hand and held it tightly and Callum could feel his father's earnest longing. He shut his eyes, trying to block out the sensation.

‘You understand, don't you?' asked Rusty.

Callum stood up and crossed over to the window. All along the cliff face, the Sons of Gaia were gathered around small campfires. Beyond, the middle harbour glistened as the moon rose up above the ragged bush. He had travelled so far to be here, to be in this strange, lonely aerie with the last of his fathers.

‘I understand,' he said.

32

CAGED BIRDS

Two days after the husbands had visited, Li-Li woke Bo early.
It was still dark outside but the Zenana was already starting to come to life. ‘I think you're in trouble,' said Li-Li.

‘Why?'

‘They almost never let us out of the Zenana. Now Hackett has said we're allowed to go to Lady Bay, because you complained about being cooped up. We're only allowed to go there once a year and we've already had our visit. Because of you, we're going again.'

‘Then why am I in trouble? I thought everyone should be pleased.'

‘They are. But Hackett will tell you he did this for you. And ask for something in return.'

Bo climbed out of bed and looked out the window at the dark harbour. Before Hackett could ask anything of her, she had to escape.

Before dawn, Meera and Verity had raised the girls and prepared everything for their excursion. Each child was dressed in a close fitting neck-to-knee garment and then draped in long black robes. In the early morning they boarded a small bus with darkened windows. Lolly could barely contain her excitement. She climbed onto Bo's lap, struggling with her heavy robes, and pressed her face against the window, pointing at everything from the front gate to the squadrones marching down the street in their drab khaki uniforms, as if she had never seen anything so exciting, as if she was a bird being set free from her cage.

The bus stopped at the top of a pathway on the only piece of land left on the South Head not crowded with houses. Bo could see a track cut into the harbour side of the rocky peninsula. Meera and Verity organised the girls into pairs and they walked in a crocodile line to the beach. Thick scrub towered above them on one side and a high stone wall on the other. Eucalypts cast long shadows across the path. Bo looked longingly into the reserve, wishing Festers were hiding in the bush, imagining they would come out to rescue her.

Two squadrones of soldier-drones accompanied them, one behind and one ahead. Their black boots sounded loudly on the stone path and they stared across the top of the girls' heads, their gaze fixed and eyes glassy. They acted as if they were blinkered, as if the girls were a herd of sheep rather than a group of children.

It didn't take long to reach a weathered flight of stairs that led down to the shore. Meera instructed the squadrones to wait and the girls were allowed to walk down the stairs alone. An ancient sign lay in the grass on the side of the path.

‘What does it say, Bo?' whispered Serene.

‘
Lady Bay Beach – nudity permitted on beach only,
' said Bo, pushing back a clump of native grass to see the words carved into the timber.

‘What's a nudity?'

‘It's not a thing. It means you're allowed to take your clothes off.'

Serene giggled, scandalised. ‘I never knew it said that!'

Even at low tide there was only a tiny strip of beach left as the harbour waters lapped against the shore, trying to reclaim the peninsula. The girls disrobed, leaving their heavy overclothes on the flat rocks that edged the beach while Meera and Verity fussed over them, forcing them all to put on bonnets with wide brims, which were then tied snugly beneath their chins.

‘We've only got an hour or two before the tide comes in,' said Meera. ‘But you girls can build sandcastles and have a paddle in the sea. Verity and I have a picnic. We're going to have a lovely morning.'

Bo looked across the measly strip of sand. Lady Bay Beach was a small, protected cove with a mesh fence sealing it off from the harbour. Behind them, the rock face rose like a prison wall. She sighed and sat down in the sand beside Li-Li.

Obediently, all the girls began moulding sandcastles, drawing little pathways from one construction to the next. Li-Li helped some of the smaller girls build while Bo lay down beside Lolly and watched the tiny girl make lumpy mounds and poke her fingers into them. Lolly lined up a row of seashells and showed Bo how they were the windows of her fairy sandcastle. Then she took her baby doll down to the shore and dipped its feet in the water. Immediately, Verity was by her side, hovering over Lolly as if she were about to fall on her face and drown. Lolly slapped the woman's hands away in frustration.

‘Can we take off these outfits?' Bo asked Meera, tugging at the close-fitting bodysuit.

Meera stopped handing out cupcakes and frowned. ‘We don't want you to get sunburnt. And do keep your hat on, Bo. You don't want the sun to freckle that pretty face.'

Bo laughed. She thought of all the hours she had spent hunting, squinting into the desert sun, with burning light washing across her body. And she thought with a pang of the afternoon at the waterhole with Callum, the silky water against their skin and how lightly his body had floated in her arms. She walked down to the water's edge where white waves lapped against the shore. The blue-green water felt cool as it washed over her feet but when she waded in deeper, the bodysuit clung to her calves.

Serene wandered in to stand beside her. ‘Wouldn't it be nice to take these clothes off and swim properly?' said Bo.

‘We always swim in our bodysuits,' said Serene.

‘What do you think would happen if we took them off? '

‘I don't know.'

‘Let's find out,' said Bo. Quickly, she peeled off the bodysuit, stomping down on the yellow fabric until it looked like a flimsy jellyfish beneath the water. Serene giggled and peeled hers off as well, flinging it into the shallows where it floated like a dead creature. It took a moment for Verity and Meera to realise that Bo and Serene were now completely naked.

‘Bo! Serene! Put your costumes back on this instant,' shouted Verity.

‘Can you swim?' Bo asked Serene.

‘Yes.'

‘Then let's go!' Bo dived under the cool water and felt the thrill of it washing across her bare skin. Quickly, she freestyled out to the mesh fence that enclosed the bay. Serene followed and they climbed onto the barrier, sitting like two mermaids with the wide harbour behind them.

On the beach, Verity and Meera began shouting for them to return. The other girls playing in the sand looked up in astonishment. Li-Li began to laugh and in the next instant, she too stripped off her bodysuit. She ran past the women, dived into the water and swam out to join Bo and Serene. Meanwhile, on the beach, all the girls began shedding their suits like second skins and running down to the water's edge, squealing with excitement, while Meera and Verity ran among them, trying to force the littlest girls back into their hats and bodysuits, all to no avail. As soon as they dressed one, another peeled off her clothes and ran shouting into the sea. Soon, all the girls were in the water, splashing each other and shrieking in shrill delight.

Li-Li pulled herself up onto the mesh fence and laughed. ‘I've never swum nude before. It's delicious.'

‘The sign said we could be naked on the beach, didn't it, Bo?' said Serene. She combed one hand through her blonde hair and flicked it over her bare shoulder.

Li-Li laughed again, a low chuckle that made Bo want to hoot with laughter as well.

‘Look at all those squadrones up on the rocks,' said Li-Li. ‘They don't know where to look or what to do. You've really started something.'

Bo scanned the harbour and the rocky shore. ‘How far is it across the Heads?' she asked.

‘Too far to swim, if that's what you're thinking.'

‘And what lies beyond the tip of the peninsula?'

Li-Li followed her gaze to the end of South Head. ‘The wide, wide ocean. Thousands of kilometres of open sea.' She said it with such longing that Bo took her hand and held it tightly.

They sat on the mesh fence watching the girls splash wildly in the shallows while Meera and Verity shouted in exasperation and hauled the children, one by one, onto the shore.

‘We should swim in soon,' said Serene, starting to look anxious. ‘We'll all be punished with the Black Box.'

‘The Black Box?' said Bo.

‘There are two upstairs,' said Li-Li. ‘They put you in them when you're naughty. But they're really nothing more than dark cupboards. The little ones hate it and cry for hours but I don't care. They won't hurt us physically because they want to keep our bodies intact for Mater Misericordiae.'

‘We'll never be allowed to come back to Lady Bay again, either,' said Serene.

‘Don't worry. Bo and I won't be with you much longer,' said Li-Li bitterly. ‘Once they've got rid of us troublemakers, they'll bring you back here again.'

‘But it won't be the same without you! I don't want anything to change.'

‘Things can change for the better,' said Bo. ‘One day, we might all be free to do as we please.'

‘One day,' sighed Serene. ‘Everything is one day too far away.'