Trust Page 0,60

don't know.'

She swallowed, put down the kettle and began to look around the room for answers. Then she looked at me.

'We've got to do something,' she said. 'We can't just sit here. Something's happening and we need to find out what...'

'I know, but...'

'But what?' she snapped angrily. 'But fucking what? What is going on?'

I took an unsteady step towards her and then stopped. She turned away from me and leant over the sink and looked out of the window.

'I don't know,' I said before quickly running out of things to say. 'Look, maybe we should...'

I stopped speaking. Clare's body tensed. Her attention had obviously been caught by something she'd seen outside. From where I was I couldn't see what it was. Rather than tell me, she ran over to the back door, unlocked it and pushed her way outside. I followed close behind.

'What's the matter?' I shouted after her. 'What is it?'

She didn't answer. She didn't have to.

Hanging heavily in the sky, at a distance of maybe ten miles from the house, was an alien ship. Seemingly identical to the first ship we'd seen in the summer just passed, the huge vessel hung silently over the land.

'Fucking hell...' I began before my mouth dried. 'What the hell is that doing here? I thought their rescue ship wasn't due for another few months...?'

I walked a little way further away from the house and out into the garden. Turning back to look over the roof of the building behind me, I saw that there was a second noiseless ship in the sky, this one much closer. Both of the machines were vast and impervious.

'What's going on?' Clare demanded desperately. 'For Christ's sake, Tom...'

She knew that I couldn't answer.

A cold, autumnal rain had begun to fall. I wiped my face dry as I walked the length of Clare's garden towards a low stone wall which separated her property from the fields beyond. I climbed the wall, jumped down and then ran into the middle of the nearest field, hoping to get a better view of the alien ship closest to the house. When I turned back I froze with sudden, bitter fear. I could see another five ships, all watching and waiting ominously from seemingly random positions in the dark and overcast sky.

Feeling vulnerable and exposed, I ran back to the house.

Chapter 27

Having to fight to keep calm and stay in control I bundled Clare back indoors and slammed the door shut behind me.

'Why are those ships here?' she demanded as I pushed her towards the living room.

'No idea,' I gasped, forcing my words out between deep, nervous breaths. 'There are loads of the fucking things out there.'

'But why?'

Ignoring her questions I instinctively grabbed at the phone again and held it to my ear. It was still dead and I angrily threw it back down to the table.

'Are they here to pick up the aliens?' she asked, pressing me for answers which she knew I couldn't give.

'Don't know. They could be.'

'But what else could they be doing...?'

'I've told you,' I snapped. 'I don't know. For Christ's sake, I don't know any more than you do.'

Maybe I could have thought of a hundred and one reasons why the ships might have arrived, but none of them would necessarily have been right. Whatever the reason, I knew we were in trouble. Each one of the ships on their own would have been sufficient to hold the three hundred and sixty-eight original aliens so why were there so many here? And from the time they'd first made contact with us we had been told that it would take at least ten months for their rescuers to get here. Less than half that time had so far elapsed.

'We should wait here,' Clare rambled nervously. 'Wait here and...'

'Why? We've done all our waiting, haven't we? We waited here all last night for the power to come back on and for Penny to...'

'Well what else are we going to do?' she screamed.

I didn't know. I walked away. I had to think.

The only logical explanation I could find - although it sounded bizarre and completely illogical - was that the behaviour of the population had been controlled and manipulated by the aliens. And the ships we had just seen must have been a part of the same plan. The bastard things had enslaved the whole bloody planet right under our noses. So why hadn't Clare and I succumbed? Why were we different?

'Stay here and