137 Dirty Dancing (1/2)
”Goddamit,” said Sean. ”Do we have much farther to go? It's bloody hot.”
”Another fifteen minutes or so,” said Dave. ”We're getting close.”
”You said so half an hour ago.”
”I'm sorry,” said Dave. ”It's easy to miscalculate distance when you always drove there in a car.”
”Why didn't you get yourself a bicycle, Dad? Why didn't you have one, in the first place? It's good exercise.”
”I prefer to walk. Walking is better exercise than riding a bike. We tried to buy bicycles when it became apparent our car was immobilized for good. But we couldn't. We offered a thousand dollars to a fella who had two, and he laughed at us. Told us there were five people engaged in a bidding war for his spare bike, and that the top bid was four thousand dollars.”
”That's not much.”
”What?!”
”They were selling for up to ten thousand dollars down in Melbourne.”
”That's insane.”
”Well, these are crazy times.”
”Let's take a break,” said Maureen. ”Jessica is exhausted.”
Dave stopped and looked at his granddaughter. Her sweating face was red; she was in poor shape. She was only fifteen, and much weaker than her older brother, who actually seemed to be enjoying the trip: he was a good twenty paces ahead of everyone else.
”Jason!” called out Sean. ”Stop. Jessica needs a rest.”
Jason sauntered up to their group, lips twisted in a wicked little smile.
”You're such a wombat,” he told his sister.
Jessica started crying.
”Jesus,” Dave said under his breath. He caught Susan's eye and they moved a few steps away from the others.
”This is turning out more difficult than I thought,” he told her.
”I wish Henry had more sense,” she said. ”What's the point of launching from a different spot when we're going to join the Pendeltons anyway?”
”I have no idea. He probably got orders from above to disperse people, so that every settlement has room to expand.”
”But he knew we're in this together with the Pendeltons. You said yourself he was pleased that he'll have a vacant colony site.”
”He issued two licenses. Most likely the way it works, it's one license per site. He has to report to the regional governor, and show that he's following the rules. If a site becomes vacant later, that's another story.”
”It's stupid. And all this playacting is stupid, too. Walking all the way there and back just for the sake of appearances.”
”Let's just get it over with,” said Dave. ”In a couple of hours we'll be back home, implant Sean and the rest, and we'll be done.”
”Hey,” Sean called. ”What are you up to over there? Let's get going, shall we?”
They got going, but didn't get very far before Jason - who was ahead of the others, as usual - stopped and shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand and stared hard at something.
”Isn't that the spot we're supposed to launch from?”
”Almost,” said Dave. ”We're supposed to launch where the road meets the beach, just a bit further on. Who did you see?”
”How the hell could I know? I saw this fella and he saw me and dived into the trees.”
”He's probably Henry's man,” Dave said. ”Sent there to make sure we do what we're supposed to do.”
”Dad, your implant's showing,” said Sean.
”Damn. It's the sweat. Susan, can you do your magic?”
”I didn't bring my makeup case,” Susan said.
”Oh damn.”
”Put on your cap,” Sean said.
”I'll sweat even more with it on,” said Dave.
”Well, your implant is showing anyway. The damage is done.”
Dave reluctantly put on his golfing cap.
”Looks okay?” he asked.
”Yes. Let's go.”