and then lobotomizing them like this.
They heard a distant whistle sounding.
‘What was that?’ asked Lincoln.
Men’s voices echoed through the orchard. They heard the clatter of machinery firing up.
Liam shrugged. ‘Maybe that was the end of a lunch break.’
The light on the box suddenly changed from amber to green.
Sal tilted her head. ‘Does that mean it’s just turned itself “on”?’
Liam looked at the others. ‘Uhh … who thinks we better go?’
Sal nodded. She popped the leather cap back on and managed to snap one of the clips in place before the eugenic stirred. Its small eyes twitched and flickered and then focused on Sal for a moment.
‘Oh Jay-zus!’ whispered Liam. ‘It’s woken up!’ Liam pulled Sal back and stood in front of her. ‘Easy … there, big fella …’ His voice trembled.
The creature slowly pulled itself to its feet and stood erect for a moment, easily two foot taller than Bob. Its all-black eyes, small and glistening like a spider’s, seemed to be studying them without the tiniest hint of curiosity. Then without any warning it turned round and pushed its way through the gap between the nearest two apple trees.
Liam ducked down low under the branches and peered out after it to see the creature push through another row of trees into an area of the orchard busy being harvested. He saw a dozen others like it, leviathan-sized eugenics assembling around one end of what appeared to be some sort of combine-harvester.
In the sky half a mile away, he saw a sky vessel was slowly approaching, descending. Just like the farming operation they’d seen in action a week ago.
He looked back at the enormous eugenic workers. The sheer size of this particular type … they made Bob look pitifully small. ‘We’ve not seen this kind before,’ said Liam.
‘We should proceed,’ said Bob, hunkering down beside Liam. ‘We have twenty-one miles to the rendezvous location.’
Liam nodded. ‘You’re right.’
CHAPTER 75
2001, New York
Maddy spat grit out of her mouth. ‘Oh my God, that was close!’
The artillery barrage began several hours after the British had arrived, just as Colonel Devereau had said it would. With every percussive thump of a shell landing on this side of the river, the archway seemed to shower on them more dust and particles of brick. They were partly protected from a direct hit by the mangled remains of the bridge overhanging them … but the way their roof seemed to be shedding pieces, she had no doubt a near enough miss would do as good a job as a direct hit.
She picked up the computer keyboard in front of her and turned it over, pouring dust and grit out from between the keys on to the desk.
‘Jeeez … I’m surprised anything’s still working in here!’
Her words were lost beneath another nearby thump that unleashed a shower of debris from above. Ten minutes of this bombardment so far and already Maddy’s nerves were jangling.
One hit … just one … and I’m going to be entombed beneath an avalanche of bricks.
She had half a mind to leave the archway and stand outside in the trenches. At least she’d not die by being crushed. Becks was sitting beside the displacement machine, protecting the rack of circuit boards from falling fragments. The computer keyboard in front of her might still work with nuggets of brick lodged inside it, thought Maddy, but she doubted the fragile electronics of the displacement machine would be quite so forgiving.
And what about the antennae array, outside? If it got knocked, they’d have to reset it. Go outside, stand on the crumbling roof and recalibrate it, or God knows how off-target their window was going to be.
Worst still. What about a hit on that old rust-bucket tank outside, still loyally chugging away? No tank, no power. They’d be as good as dead in the water.
‘Becks!’
‘Yes, Maddy?’
‘There’s no way we’re going to survive two days of this!’ Another heavy thump deposited a shower of debris on Maddy’s head. She spat out grit and shook her head, sending another smaller shower of dust out of her hair and on to her lap.
‘We need to open the window now!’
‘We can’t do that, Maddy. They may not be at the rendezvous coordinates yet.’
Becks – Queen of the Freakin’ Obvious.
‘I know that … I know that … but … we’ve got to do something before we get hit!’
Both Becks and Bob had a local wireless range, but neither of them could transmit a message to each other across more than a mile or