Voices in Stone - Emily Diamand Page 0,80

She nudged Gray. “Look.”

Gray gasped, staring down. So far down.

Merlin tore his gaze from the sky. “Oh man!” He grabbed hold of Isis and Gray, gripping tightly to their arms.

They were sitting on top of a sheer column of rock, only just wide enough for the three of them. Everywhere else the ground level had dropped, and was now thirty metres below, leaving them perched high above a wide plain. The trees in this new land were standing drunkenly, leaning at odd angles. The grass and vegetation was ridged into long low mounds, like wrinkled skin. The alien had pulled itself from the ground, leaving only the coverings of soil and vegetation, which it no longer needed.

They stared, speechless, at the altered landscape. Dotted through the plain were other tall columns, and on the closest Isis could see the tiny shapes of people. Where the gates of the mining company had been, there was something like a vertically sided hill. On top of it a crowd of stunned protestors were still holding their banners.

“She kept all the people safe,” said Isis.

“And after everything we did to him,” said Gray.

Their smiles answered each other, cracking the dirt on their faces.

Chapter Thirty-five

Gray

You’re telling me aliens did it?

Not aliens. An alien. I know on telly they said it was a massive sinkhole, and all that stuff about underground rivers making hidden caves. But that’s rubbish.

We know it wasn’t a sinkhole, because we planted that particular explanation, with a few discreet payments to some eminent geologists. At short notice, it was the best we could do.

It won’t work! Loads of people saw the alien. It was all over the news, and that film of us being airlifted off by helicopter got millions of hits on YouTube. Stu went mental because he was shut inside a police van at the time. He and Dad have spent the last couple of weeks trying to get copies of any footage, but it turns out people were either too freaked out to film the alien, or their camera phones stopped working. I reckon there was some kind of feedback – I mean, if you think his whole body was made of rare earth metals…

Your story is most inconvenient. Now I will have to edit significant parts of this recording, and use some quite heavy-handed techniques to induce a more useful statement from you. This case has caused considerable economic losses to our sponsors, and as it was me who involved you in the first place, well, let us say there have been questions. But if I could show that you’d been radicalised, perhaps by exposure to an eco-extremist, such as this Merlin character…

‘Radicalised’? Merlin’s not an eco-extremist – I’m not even sure he’s all there!

Even better. Look in my eyes, that’s right. Now, I want you to retell your story, but this time you will say that you stole explosives from the quarry stores and set extra charges around the site. You will say that the alien didn’t escape, that you destroyed it to make a political point.

What political point? That doesn’t even make sense!

Extremists never do, that’s why it will be believable.

I can’t believe you’re related to Isis, I can’t believe you’re her dad. You’re just a… user!

Enough! I want to you relax, I want you to focus on my watch, and when I tap your forehead…

No! You should stay away from her, and from me.

That’s not for you to decide. Look at the watch. Look at it!

Stay away, or I’m going to tell Isis about you, and what you really are.

You won’t, because you won’t remember.

How do you know? You say I’m being hypnotised, but Dad said that all you need is willpower to break from it.

Yes – you’ve already tried that and failed.

I won’t this time! I’m not looking in your eyes or at your stupid watch. I’m un-hypnotising myself, right now.

Stop it! You can’t just get up. I haven’t counted you out of the trance.

I’ll count myself out. Tennineeightsevensixfivefourthreetwoone!

Stop that!

No. I’m leaving. And if any weird things happen I’ll tell Isis everything I know about you.

She won’t believe you.

She will! Because you’re just her runaway dad and I’m her brother.

Her what?

Brother! Cally and my dad, they’re getting married! Didn’t you know that, Mr Secret Organisation with all your secret knowledge? Didn’t your oh-so-powerful sponsors tell you? Isis has got a proper family now.

Do not try to threaten me.

You said I was here to tell you about Isis, well she’s got ghosts protecting her too.