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  ‘So, when you ask why we have guns? Remember it will stop all those great and important people who we protect, having to go through those at Somnus one went through, by that I mean there very timely deaths.’ The speech ended, there was an odd silence which fell over the room.

  ‘But, but, there’s nobody here, like nobody in the iceboxes, no iceboxes, no nothing.’ Cameron tried to burst the bubble Mikey had started to create.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Mary asked, her fail went pail.

  ‘I haven’t exactly got the guided tour, but I’ve had a bit of a wonder around, but there’s nowhere the chambers are, they are huge and there’s more labs than anything else.’ Cameron explained, there was an odd face that Mikey pulled, it was somewhat unexplainable, but the best way to picture it is if Mikey suddenly realised he’d woke up on a rollercoaster track, and a roller coaster was on its way.

  ‘That isn’t the point,’ Mikey squeaked.

  ‘I think that’s exactly the point, if you’re not keeping people here, where are they.’ Cameron suddenly got another wind.

  ‘Somnus three to six are full of people.’ Mikey explained.

  ‘What about the other Somnus estates.’ Simon chimed in.

  ‘Yeah, what he said.’ Cameron agreed.

  ‘Seven eight nine what do they hold?’ Simon clambered up to his feet with his cane.

  ‘That really isn’t something you need to know.’ Mikey waved his arms around.

  ‘I’d say it’s something I’d need to know. As the create of the Somnus project.’ Mary also stood, Mikey tumbled back up against a wall behind him.

  ‘No, it isn’t. Your dead. By all accounts of the law, you’ve expired, you have no rights.’ Michael straightened his back, finding his footing literally and metaphorically. He was right she was dead, they all were, they’d not got their rights taken from them but more gave their rights up.

  ‘This still doesn’t answer why you shut down Somnus two.’ Mary stepped forward, this was a thought that hadn’t left her mind since it was mentioned.

  ‘Simple, we needed to work out how the vases worked, to perfect it so to say.’ Mikey explained, the second the final word came from his mouth Mary had jumped down his throat.

  ‘There is nothing to perfect with my Somnus machines.’ She cried.

  ‘Oh yeah? A ninety day cycle is a big down fall in your tech, we wanted to straighten out the long term and press it forward to a much longer freezing time.’ Mikey padded around his desk like a cat until he came to his seat, placed his hands on the table but never sat.

  ‘That is unavoidable, muscular dystrophy wouldn’t allow it.’ Examined Mary out loud.

  ‘That’s what we thought, and what we found with what was left of Somnus two, and a lot of Somnus one, till we got it right, you don’t think by chance you got iced for twenty years and survived by sheer luck, do you?’ Mikey sat down. Marys eyes flicked back and forth in her head, Cameron hadn’t seen this since he was back in Somnus one.

  ‘Mary, are you okay,’ Simon asked placing his hand on her shoulder, she closed her eyes seconds after he’d asked, her eyes still moved, just visible through the list twitches of her eye lids.

  ‘Fuck you, were leaving, you killed Somus one and two and I have a feeling in my balls you killed Allan, so I say good day and fuck off.’ Cameron grabbed Mary, with her closed eyes, by the hand, and tried to walk, she was as solid as a rock.

  ‘We considered second phase hibernation, it effected sleeping pattern too much.’ Mary’s eyes flickered open in a heartbeat, the next second her hand was over her mouth and her eyes full of shock.

  ‘We’ve been having the same issues you theorised,’ Mikey drummed on the table with a pen he’d picked up, you could tell it was an issue which had pestered him, even in these seconds his brain turned the idea over and over again.

  ‘Long term insomnia.’ Mikey dropped the pen, it spun along the desk and stopped near the center of the desk.

  ‘Long term insomnia, what does he mean long term insomnia?’ Cameron asked, the way Mary said it made Cameron’s and Simons stomach flip.

  ‘What do you think it means?’ Mikey asked the two of them.

  ‘We won’t sleep until our night cycles resync.’ Explained Mary, there was worry in her voice, but Simon just looked at her confused.

  ‘Twenty years’ worth of sleep,’ Michael examined.

  ‘That doesn’t sound so bad. I wouldn’t sleep for days back in the gig days.’ Blurted Cameron.

  ‘Try forty years.’ Mary answered.

  ‘Rain check on that, six months.’ Corrected Mikey.

  ‘That got shortened, very short, how so short?’ Simon rested on his cane in shock. There was a silence for a few seconds, then both Mary and Mikey suddenly started clicking their fingers in unison.

  ‘Eleven days.’ They both said in sync.

  ‘Eleven days?’ did they say eleven days?’ Cameron asked, Simon nodded in reply.

  ‘We have eleven days to live? How does that figure?’ Simon asked standing back straight again.

  ‘The human body has limits, eleven days is somewhat it, most people can’t live longer then eleven days without rest.’ Mary explained Mikey just smirked by his desk.

  ‘I thought you were on our side man, we’re different, right? We’ll be okay, something in the tubes will keep us going.’ the stress was getting to him.

  ‘Maybe, certain, things may be helping you three or hindering.’ Mikey pointed at the three of them with the pen he’d picked back up.

  ‘See I’m helping.’ Mikey smiled a wicked smile.

  ‘Injuries, long term illness.’ Mary looked at the other two.

  ‘We should find your son.’

  Chapter 11

  ‘Why are looking for Benji? Fuck that’s a stupid name.’ Cameron did a half jog behind Mary, she’d stormed from Somnus and they made their way to the old Mr Pratchett sign,

  ‘Ben wasn’t the killer, we know that now,’ a shrill voice yelled from far behind, Simon hobbled along behind them, yelling his insights as he did.

  ‘We don’t know that!’ Simon yelled, feeling the mossy ground under cane, watching for roots which would try and pull him down.

  Mary stopped, regret consumed her facial features. Taken a deep breath she allowed Cameron to catch up to her, Simon slowed down, panting, his chest was tight.

  ‘When you say, certain things may kill us quicker, illness and the likes. I’m not exactly fit as a fiddle.’ Simon looked tired, tired and grey, his eyes puffy bags under thick black hedges he called eye brows.

  ‘Your ill.’ Mary stated, all though there was some stress in her voice, as if it was meant as a question.

  ‘In one baby doll. I wasn’t just frosted like a donut because I was gay in the twenties, lots of people were gay, super gay. Lung cancer got to me, hoping for a cure. Do you think they have a cure now?’ he grinned, a small drip of red trickled from his lip.

  ‘Eighteen hours,’ Mary wiped off the splatter of blood.

  ‘Eighteen? Did she say eighteen? Hours?’ asked Simon.

  ‘I think so.’ Cameron agreed.

  ‘Give or take, I can’t be sure, not one hundred percent.’ Examined Mary.

  ‘Frozen for eighty years, and I only get two days out of it.’ He had to take another deep breath, Cameron could tell Simon was struggling to take in air.

  ‘This has taken a pretty large turn today, it’s most probably the shock of the whole day. Speeding up the process.’ Mary explained.

  ‘But I’m going to be fine,’ Simon begun to ask before being shushed by Mary, school style, with fingers on lips and everything.

  ‘I heard something, something just clicked,’ Mary looked towards the Somnus building, a light glinted from the top floor.

  ‘Do you mean something clicked metaphorically, like clicked mentally.’ Cameron pondered aloud.

  ‘No, like an audible click.’ Mary put her hands out as if to balance her, slowly she brought a finger up to her lips to show s
he wanted silence again. The two immediately became hushed.

  “click” echoed through the forest.

  ‘That’s a gun click, somebody just loaded a gun, cheese it.’ Cameron yelled, he was particularly surprised somebody loaded a gun, because that meant somebody was going to shoot at them, he was sure somebody would shoot them sooner or later, he just didn’t expect so soon.

  All three belted from the small clearing around the compound and headed back into the small wood, chasing through them like packman ghosts they flew through the undergrowth in single file, Mary head of the group followed by Cameron and Simon at the rear, he had a joke in mind about being near the rear but considered the timing in ill taste.

  “Ting” something small and metal hit something large and wooden, possibly a bullet hitting a tree, or a stainless-steel bee hitting a timber house, but Simon thought the second probably sounded silly.

  Maybe his impending doom had fogged his brain, whatever was killing him, so quickly had begun to infect his brain.

  Simon shook his head, his mind rattled around on the inside, the way you felt it wobble after a heavy night out on the tiles.

  He closed his eyes for half a second, taking a huge breath in, Simon slowly reopened his eyes finding he was suddenly alone behind a tree.

  They’d ran off behind another tree, Cameron and Mary had the speed over Simon, with his limp and impending lack of life.

  ‘For fucks sake!’ Simon rocked back and forwards moving towards the tree Mary and Cameron hid behind, he called that walking. Things buzzed past him, the metal bees were back at it again, Simon covered his ears and hobbled on.

  ‘Why the hell is he shooting at us?’ Simon yelled, the other two barely heard over the explosions and whistling the gunman was creating from their tower, the fingers in their ears mostly didn’t help either.

  ‘He said he wanted to help us,’ Simon ducked down, as dirty spat up from the ground.

  ‘He’s obviously changed his mind!’ Cameron replied, he covered is ears and nodded his head as bullets shot past him.

  ‘Silence for two seconds, please.’ Asked Mary, there was silence other than the gun man, she nodded to the two once she had the knowledge she required.

  ‘Is that a nod to cheese it again?’ Cameron asked Mary, she nodded again in reply, the worrying silence she would fall under when she was thinking hard shaded her again.

  ‘Were running on three,’ Cameron yelled over the ricochet of ammo. Simon hobbled away before the countdown had even begun.

  The edge of the forest where the trees were so much denser, out ran a man with a cane, followed by another man whose hair was still damp and a woman whose shoes weren’t built for running in soil. Small chunks of debris, flew through the air towards them until they could reach no more and the explosions and whistles stopped.

  ‘Can I ask something?’ this was a question all in its self, but Cameron was somewhat too polite to simply ask a question out loud.

  ‘Why would Somnus want to kill Allan?’ Simon butted it in without ask the forward question.

  ‘I presume to try and tie of the loose ends, Mr Shields wasn’t particularly important as a figure, and to be frank was somewhat annoying at the best of times.’ Mary explained trying to gather her breath back.

  ‘Why did they just try and kill us now?’ Cameron asked this time starting before Simon could but in.

  ‘They tried to kill you. Each time I moved out the shooting became less random, like they were hoping to hit you and hoping not to kill me.’ Mary’s head seemed three times larger than usual, there was something in the fact she was needed which made her well up inside, as if she’d never felt needed before. Cameron gave a little grin to Mary, and Mary gave a grin back with added simples, suddenly she was back to earth with a normal sized head.

  ‘Let’s keep moving,’ Cameron patted Simon on the shoulder of his smoking jacket and started to move on.

  ‘We’re we going?’ Mary asked, she didn’t even have a plan at this point.

  ‘To see the daughter, I never had.’ He spoke loudly so the two could hear him without turning or stopping.

  Chapter 12

  ‘Why we going to Stephanie’s?’ Simon asked, hobbling behind as they’d gotten used to him doing, now he stopped and panted for a few seconds before scurrying up to Mary’s side once more.

  ‘So far, she’s the only person who hasn’t died or hasn’t tried to kill us, I’d say that was a pretty good reason that she’ll be the best person to start with.’ Cameron had give up on arguing that she wasn’t his daughter, if she was or wasn’t he could use that to his advantage. He’d have to tell her he was the late great Cameron Bishop first, that couldn’t be too hard, could it?

  They called a cab, Cameron was thankful of that, he loved this little town he’d grown up in but he was beginning to feel a little warn thin, not tired just dazed, like he’d taken in too much information, and now his head had to sort it out.

  The cab played cab music, a mix of Bollywood songs, pop songs and pop songs done in a Bollywood style. Simon had taken the front seat as this felt the right thing to do, he didn’t know why it just did. Leaning forward his cane pushed into his gut, Simon switched off the radio, he smiled at the Indian man as if to say sorry.

  ‘Fancy dress party last night, Huh?’ the cabby asked, looking at the outfits of the three, although Cameron looked perfectly normal, the red smoking jacket of Simon and the blouse and black trousers of Mary seemed a little off.

  ‘You could say that,’ Simon answered.

  ‘A party of sorts my towel wearing friend.’ Within seconds of the words coming from his mouth Simon was slapped across the ear by Cameron, it rang softly.

  ‘You can’t say that.’ Cameron whispered forward between the gap of the cabby and Simon. Mary stared longingly out of the window, you could almost hear the cogs in her mind ticking over, thinking of all the possible outcomes, she suddenly snapped out of her silence.

  ‘You seem obnoxiously calm considering your shortened life span.’ She was speaking to Simon, he felt her eyes burry themselves into the back of his head.

  ‘When its time its time,’ He replied, this didn’t sound like the thought process of a man who had paid billions into a high yield account to be frozen for twenty years, Mary made it obvious she disagreed.

  ‘What’s the difference, I’ve just been set to minus two hundred for the last twenty years, all of it was a black blur, I see very little difference between that and dying, black cold uncertainness, and that’s at the worse, let’s say all those Christians are wrong and I’m going up, if laying with a man isn’t a sin I’m winning, I doubt it isn’t but just in case, I made sure a good chunk of my money goes to orphans or something, should buy me a little slice logically.’ Simon explained, trying to make what could happen to him better in his mind.

  ‘I don’t see how any of this helps you get into an imaginary club,’ Mary was straight away hit sharply on the leg, seconds after the words escaped her mouth.

  The brakes squeaked, the whole cab shook and Mary and Cameron rocked back and forward, like all those in suddenly stopping cabs did. Money was thrown through the small window, some of it was caught by the cabby and the rest caught by Simon who handed it back to the person it was meant for.

  ‘Thanks Hassan.’ Simon said before getting out.

  ‘My names David.’ He whispered under his breath, sadly David was somewhat used to this form of abuse, the gentle abuse where nobody knows they are being mocked until the last minute.

  ‘You saw something out in the forest, what was it?’ Cameron asked Mary while they waited for Simon to exit the car.

  ‘It’s what I heard which was more worrying.’ She leant on somebody’s car, relaxing more than she’d ever relaxed before. It was never the normal for her to be so at home with somebody, but Cameron had that way, he spoke gently but there was urgency in his voice even when there was no need to be.

  ‘The shots, they were too close together, the first gunman
shot single precise shots, and only when angered he spoke up, that’s military,’ Mary’s stopped for a second to allow Cameron to ask how she knew, he never did.

  ‘The second gunman was scatter and kill.’ Finished for questioning.

  ‘What does that matter.’ Cameron asked, Mary perked up. She loved questions.

  ‘They weren’t connected, if you’re going to hire bodyguards they would be from the same place, the same place same training, the first gunman had no affiliation with Somnus, I had guessed, when we mentioned Allen was dead there was a little glint, from doctor Hassan’s eyes, but then the gun man on the roof, he was sloppy.’ Simon pottered out from behind the cab, it was a silver BMW not the nice yellow cabs he was used to.

  ‘Should we head in.’ Simon pointed to the front door of the pub.

  What was once the three-legged lamb, was derelict, chairs had been turned onto tables, lights had been dimed to a low orange hue, the hue that always had a ring to go along with it, just at human hearing. The weight red doors swung open, Cameron stepped in first followed by Mary, the door had clicked into an open resting position while Simon crossed the threshold.

  Noises came from a backroom, a silhouette sat on a bar stool, the short ones which are scattered around the littler tables of the floor of a bar. He held his head, they could tell it was a he due to the fact the shadowy figure seemed short of hair and large of gut.

  ‘What are you Bishop nuts doing back here.’ he said in his thick Yorkshire accent.

  ‘I thought I told you fucks to beat it,’ he rubbed his head some more, leaning forward to find comfort the black smudge found light, it was Gilly. Cameron’s jaw dropped in awe, as the landlord of his favourite pub rubbed his skull till the thinning hair had become a mess of threads.

  ‘You son of a bitch,’ Cameron said running over to his chum, this time, opposed to last when he held down the need, Cameron pulled Gilly from his seat and swung him around, with Gilly’s arms strapped around his chest, it looked uncomfortable for both parties as Gilly wasn’t a light fellow or the type to be hugged.