MetaWars: Fight For The Future

Chapter 14

Jonah felt like he had closed his eyes for only a minute.

He was woken by Sam, shaking him.

‘Ouch, careful,’ he said. His whole body felt brittle. He was wearing a new, grey sweatshirt and lying on a bunk in a windowless cabin. ‘Where am I?’ he muttered.

‘Somewhere over France,’ Sam replied. ‘You collapsed as soon as we’d pulled you inside the airship. Which was probably for the best, seeing the state of your back.’ Jonah felt beneath his shirt. His back was bandaged, and a terrible thought occurred to him. Sam must have seen it in his eyes, because she quickly reassured him, ‘Don’t worry, there’s no damage to your DI. You could plug in right now if you wanted to.’

She offered Jonah a full-English-flavoured Pro-Meal pouch, which he accepted gratefully. He hadn’t eaten since breakfast yesterday.

‘Look – Jonah, is it?’ said Sam. ‘My dad and Bradbury, they’ve got questions that won’t wait, and I thought you’d rather I was the one to ask them.’

Jonah nodded as he ate. He certainly didn’t relish the idea of being grilled by the forbidding Bradbury.

‘How did you find us?’

In a quiet voice, Jonah told Sam everything that had happened to him, from his discovery of his father’s avatar to his visit to the Icarus. He told her about his return to the City Tower in the real world, and the two black lorries like the ones at the airstrip that had brought it tumbling down. He choked as he told her about his mother’s sacrifice, and Sam squeezed his hand and waited for him to compose himself and continue. She didn’t say anything, but Jonah felt she understood.

‘Wait,’ said Sam, as Jonah neared the end of his story. ‘When you logged in to see your grandmother on the Island – you were in a meta-pub?’

Jonah nodded.

‘That explains it,’ said Sam. ‘Bradbury was right. He thought you must have led the Millennials to us, and you did.’

‘No,’ cried Jonah. ‘No, I didn’t. I wouldn’t!’

‘It’s OK, kid.’ She called him ‘kid’. Like Axel had. Like she was so much older than he was. ‘I know you didn’t mean to do it. It’s just that the public terminals aren’t so secure these days. Your conversation with your grandmother was probably hacked.’

‘Oh,’ said Jonah. He felt stupid and embarrassed. He had never worried about privacy in the Metasphere. As far as Jonah knew, privacy on the internet was just another relic of his father’s fairy-tale youth. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t know. Do you think...your dad will believe me, right? That I’m not a spy?’

‘Our dads go way back,’ said Sam, ‘back to the airlines and the RAF before that. It was my dad who recruited yours into the Guardians. He’ll believe you.’

‘And Bradbury?’

Sam grinned. ‘Don’t worry about him. Bradbury’s suspicious of everyone.’

‘That’s right. He is,’ came a voice from the doorway. ‘It’s his job to be.’

Axel stepped into the room. Jonah wondered how long he had been standing outside, listening. ‘Bradbury’s in charge of security for this cell,’ said Axel, ‘and he takes his role seriously. He also happens to be the finest engineer I’ve ever known.’

‘Dad,’ said Sam, ‘I think he’s telling the truth – Jonah, I mean. He isn’t working for the Millennials, he just—’

Axel nodded. He looked angry. ‘Millennial spy or not, Bradbury was right, the kid’s a liability to us. We can’t risk having him around.’