they were. But in truth she had no idea - just that they were fun and happened on TV screens.
Valérie stared silently at the equipment.
‘So? It’s cool, isn’t it?’ said Jacob, certain Mr Latoc was impressed with the progress they had made here, bringing power and light again to a dark world.
The cushioned silence in the small room became awkwardly long.
‘So . . . uh . . . didn’t anyone else you come across have stuff like this?’
Valérie shook his head slowly. He glanced at them both. ‘It is frightening.’
Nathan looked confused. ‘Frightening?’
Valérie shook his head sadly. ‘Do you not see? It is taking us back to what we were before.’
‘Yes! That’s what we—’
‘Before was a very bad time. You know this? Too many of us, all in our big cars, in our big homes. Eight billion people all wanting the new TVs, the new music systems, the new video games. The more things we had the less content we became. You would want that world again?’
Jacob and Nathan nodded.
‘You want to live in a big city, full of noises and lights?’
‘Yeah, ‘course,’ replied Nathan.
The man shook his head with incredulity. Both Nathan and Jacob stared at him, bemused.
‘I believe the world was sick then,’ he continued. ‘And people were sick with a disease of the soul. You understand me?’
Neither boy did. Not really.
‘Most people were not really happy. Most people were sick in their heart, unhappy with their lives. We all lived our isolated lives in our little homes and saw the world beyond through a tiny . . . digital window. People did not talk to each other. Instead they typed messages to complete strangers on the internet. The more things we had the unhappier we become because there was always people on the TV who had very much more.’
Valérie shook his head and smiled sadly. ‘You do not see how much better your life is now, do you?’
Jacob, Nathan and Hannah continued to stare at him in bewildered silence.
‘I think your mother understands this. It is not things - and all the electricity that makes those things work - that makes a good life. They are just things; distractions, you know? Shiny little amusements made to look so wonderful and fun and the answer to your unhappiness. But you get the shiny things home, you unwrap them, you hold them in your hand . . . and they are just shiny things, that is all. They mean nothing.’
Valérie looked at the generator. ‘You know what it is that really destroyed the old world?’
They shrugged.
‘It was greed.’
Nathan and Jacob glanced at each other.
‘You know children killed each other for things like training shoes? Or mobile phones?’ Valérie continued. ‘The time just before the crash was mankind at his most evil. There were wars for oil, wars for gas. People killed for things, for power. Killed for oil. It was a world filled with jealousy for all the things we would see others have on the TV. A world of greed. Anger. Hate.’
He ran a hand through his dark hair, pushing it out of his eyes. ‘All the bright shiny lights and the noises . . . video games, the TV, the internet, the music, the shopping, the arcades . . . these things were made by the governments to distract us; to keep our minds full and busy.’
Hannah leant into the room, her feet still obediently out in the passageway. ‘Why . . . why did the guvvy-ments want us to have busy minds?’
Valérie turned to Hannah. ‘So we did not realise how unhappy we all were.’
They stood still and silent.
Valérie clicked his tongue then rapped his knuckles on the generator’s iron casing. ‘Maybe machines like this are the first step back to bad, bad times, eh?’
The three of them stared at him, bemused by the comment.
‘I wonder,’ said Valérie, ‘do you ever think that this planet would be better off without people on it? Do you ever wonder if the oil crash happened for a reason? Just like the asteroid that finished off the dinosaurs because their time was done. Maybe it was our time.’
The words hung in the air, echoing off the hard rusting metal walls.
‘Uh . . . okay,’ said Nathan quietly. He pointed towards the doorway. ‘So . . . that was the generator room, anyway. Would you like to go see the tomato deck?’
He led the way out, stepping past Hannah. Valérie followed, and Jacob emerged in his wake.
‘You coming, Han?’
She looked up