Ntshona (10 page)

They carried the weapons to Cat’s car, which was parked close to where Tan had parked his, trying not to make obvious the fact that they were in their possession to the people inside the diner.

Lon opened one of the back doors and put the weapons on the seat.

“I’ll be off then,” said Tan as he stood by the driver’s side door of his own car.

“Thanks for helping us Tan,” said Lon.

“No worries. Let’s just hope we can get somewhere with this. I’ll see you soon,” he climbed into his seat and closed the door.

Within seconds the car was silently reversing out of the small car park and onto the road, facing the direction of the city centre.

Cat returned from inside the diner and requested that Lon and Eve get in the car, which all three of them did, again with Eve in the front passenger seat and Lon in the back.

“Cat,” said Lon, “where are we going now?”

“Somewhere safe,” she said while she started to drive the car out of the parking area.

“Where is it?” asked Eve.

“South,” said Cat.

She certainly was not being generous with the details.

They were on the road and began travelling southwards on a highway surrounded by wispy clouds.

Although Cat was generally very laid back, Lon and Eve found it difficult to strike up a conversation with her. Instead, they both took the opportunity to snooze.

By the time Lon awoke, the group were travelling through another highly urbanised area to the south of the city centre. Here most of the structures did not rise far above the roads and streets, forming the illusion of being close to ground level.

He looked at the time display on the window to his left. It was going on 3pm. less than twenty-four hours ago he and Eve were still with their three friends. He thought about what could be happening to Andres, Alta and Marcus. Were they prisoners of some sort? They must still have been alive, what use was it to abduct people in secret just to kill them? He was convinced by now that the government or police were closely involved, and the notion of terrorists had become somewhat childish to him.

This district was very different, almost like a smaller city within the main one. There was certainly the population for it, yet it was substantially lower than the city centre in which Lon and Eve lived. The most notable differences here were the tops of natural peaks forming part of the background for the comparatively short man-made structures, and the evidently greater focus on aesthetics; more artificial nature, parks, ponds and lakes, as well as the visual aspects of the shorter edifices. This place was much less imposing than the city centre, and more
… pleasant.

“What area are we in?” asked Lon.

Eve’s head rested against the front passenger side window, she was evidently still sleeping.

“Not that I know of,” he said.

“Wow, is it?” she was astonished. “Well, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised. Proper city people are like that”.

“What do you mean?” Lon asked.

“How many times have you left Ntshona?”

“Never,” he said.

“That’s what city people are like, they try to stay as close to the city centre as possible” she said.

“But I can’t really afford to travel, my family have never been near the top of the social ladder. It’s only my brother Chris who’s managed to make something of himself”.

“I see what you mean,” said Cat. “I suppose that’s the condition for a lot of people here. I just forget that, because there are so many rich and ‘important’ people living such luxurious lives”.

“Yeah, well my family never did. In fact, Chris and I grew up far from the centre, in a two bedroom apartment in Pinehurst. Even now, Chris doesn’t go crazy spending money”..

“He’s very generous with his money,” said Cat.

“Oh? Do you know him?” asked Lon.

“Of course I do! Tan has been his best friend for years”.

“Have you known Tan for long?”

“My whole life”.

Before Lon could ask any more questions, Cat spoke again. “We’re here”.

He took a few seconds to survey the area surrounding the car in order to identify the building at which they had arrived. The vehicle turned left onto a new road that led immediately to a large, predominantly white, dome-shaped structure.

“Can’t you see that huge building right in front of us?”

“We’re going there?” asked Lon. He felt confused; he was expecting them to be taken to some inconspicuous, secret location where they would never be discovered, yet this building seemed the exact opposite. He noted the dozens of pedestrians he could see entering and exiting the place, and those dotted around the parking areas nearby. “It’s a little… prominent, isn’t it?”

“What makes you say that?” Cat asked.

“Well, if we’re now ‘on the run’, then shouldn’t we stay away from crowded areas?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be safe here”.

“But what is this building?” he asked.

“The Technology Centre”.

“The Tech Centre?! This is a government building!”

“No it isn’t! It’s partially funded by the SARP’s main opposition party. The rest is private investment”.

“But it’s still dangerous!” said Lon.

“Trust me, it’s fine,” reassured Cat, “the general public aren’t likely to know you’re being pursued, and the security systems here aren’t linked to the rest of the city, therefore the government doesn’t have direct access to our knowledge”.

“What about the actual security personnel?” asked Lon.

“They don’t work for the police, they work for the Tech Centre. I told you not to worry”.

The car pulled into one of the massive car parks that surrounded the building.

The domed edifice itself, although not immensely tall, covered a large area. Lon assumed they were in close proximity to only one of many entrances. Despite not being a relatively tall structure, there were indeed many storeys, each demarcated by a layer of windows, forming, for the most part, a white and glass strata.

“Wake up,” Cat tapped Eve on the shoulder.

She slowly opened her eyes and lifted her head from its resting position against the window. She realised she had fallen asleep and almost immediately sat up upright. “Sorry, I think I was sleeping,” she said in apologetic tone.

“Yes, you’ve been asleep for quite a while,” said Cat.

Eve noticed the car was stationary. She looked out of the windows at her surroundings to see where they now were. “Oh,” she ducked her head to see more of the building, “this is the Tech Centre”.

“How do you know that?” asked Lon, feeling slightly uninformed.

“I did part of my degree training here”.

“Is it?” asked Cat. “So you already know that this place is safe, right?”

“Well, I know the university owns part of it, and it’s not directly linked to the government,” said Eve.

This was quite reassuring for Lon.

“Yeah, that’s right,” said Cat, “however, we still need to be quiet about what’s going on; there are a lot of people in there who we don’t know”.

“Do we need a cover story or something?” Lon asked.

“You two are students of the university, and I’m taking you on for a dissertation project. That should be no problem for at least one of you, right?” said Cat

“Okay,” agreed Lon, “but what’s our project?”

“I doubt you’ll need to explain that much to anyone,” Cat said.

“It’s better to be safe, isn’t it?” said Lon.

“Then let’s pretend we’re working on a networking project, is that fine?”

“That’s fine,” Eve answered for them both, in case Lon gave another picky response.

“So, if we’re sorted, then let’s go,” Cat said as she pushed her door open.

“Just a sec,” said Lon, “where should I put the weapons? We don’t want them just sitting on the back seat”.

Cat pulled her door shut again. “Oh yeah, I forgot about those. There’s a compartment under the seat, put them there”.

Lon bent down to check for a means to open it. He found a button, which he pressed, and a thin drawer slid open next to his legs. “That’s convenient!” he said as he placed the weapons inside and pushed it closed.

“Right, let’s go,” repeated Cat as she again opened her door.

The three of them exited the car into the parking area.

“Wow, the air here is much easier to breathe,” said Lon, “and there are much fewer imposing buildings. Although, not as much protection from the sun”.

“Let’s get inside quickly then,” said Cat.

While walking towards the closest entrance to the Tech Centre, Lon noticed that, as well as lots of parking space surrounding the building, there was, naturally, an NGT station close by.

Many people were walking into, out of, and around the Tech Centre, most of whom were adorned in white.

Upon entering, Lon and Eve were relieved by the cold, refreshing air being circulated throughout the lobby. Strangely, Cat never seemed to be bothered by the heat.

The lobby of the Tech Centre appeared to take up nearly all of the ground floor, and seemed close to some sort of electronics department store with an abundance of separate stalls and sections with different focal points, and each with its own staff.

“Oh, we need to check in,” stated Lon when he saw a check-in console near the entrance they had just walked through.

“I told you,” said Cat, “It’s not linked to the government system”.

“Well, either way I have the Masquerade app on my palm screen,” said Lon.

“Is it?!” Cat was happily surprised.

“Yeah, I told you I don’t trust the government, so I try to keep myself as secret as possible”.

“Yeah, I have it now too,” said Eve, “Lon installed it for me last night”.

“Wow, and how do you find it Lon?” asked Cat.

“Well, I’ve been using it for about three years, and it hasn’t failed me yet”.

“That’s good to hear!” Cat was rather delighted.

“Why?” asked Lon.

She had a large grin across her face. “I wrote it”.

“Really?!” Lon was surprised, as was Eve.

“Of course! I can even give you the newest upgrade beta if you want”.

“Great! Are there any new features?” asked Lon, who was very intrigued.

“It depends which version you have, but the newest beta has some minor bug fixes and, if you chip your palm screen, has some new basic abilities to avoid surveillance cameras, but I’ll explain that one more later,” she checked herself in and passed through the barrier.

“Avoid surveillance cameras? That could be quite useful for us right now,” said Lon.

Eve was trying to configure her palm screen. “I need to get used to doing this first”.

Lon began to repeat the instructions he had told her that morning.

“It’s okay now,” she interrupted, “I’ve got it”. She checked in and the console bleeped.

“Why didn’t it say anything?” asked Lon.

“Because that’s a government thing. Here the check-in is used for the building’s security, not for the government to keep tabs on everyone,” Cat explained.

Lon then checked in and he and Eve passed through the barrier.

“This place is incredible,” said Lon as he gazed around at the different marvels on show. “I don’t even know what all of this stuff is”.

“Well, like I told you earlier, most of this technology isn’t new, it has been available in other countries for a long time”.

“How does the government prevent us from developing?” asked Eve.

“They restrict the flow of information into the country. Obviously, imports are strictly controlled too, that’s why most things that you buy in this country are produced in this country, and that’s why everything is so expensive here. The government owns or partly owns most major enterprises, therefore it has monopoly over most markets. Take a look at energy production; the only energy company allowed to operate here is totally owned by the government, hence the ridiculously expensive energy costs”.

“So what’s the point in having a Tech Centre if the government are controlling the development of all technology in this country?” asked Lon, not knowing if he himself was sceptical or not.

“Ah, they don’t control it,” stated Cat, “they
try
to control it. That’s the exact reason there is a Tech Centre”.

“I don’t get it,” said Lon.

The ground floor of the Tech Centre had numerous lifts, the closest of which was near where the three had arrived. The door opened, and after a few people got out, they stepped in.

“Please take turns to state which floors you would like to go to,” sounded the lift.

“The Atrium,” Cat responded.

There was a moment of silence. “Only one destination has been selected: the Atrium. Is this correct?”

“Correct,” said Cat, and the lift began to rise, however not vertically, but more in a diagonal manner, travelling towards the building’s centre.