“It all happened back in the 1980s,” replied Henry. “Theirnames were Mike and Jane and they met at the Oz for Africa concert in Sydney.Have you heard of it? It was on the same day as Live Aid, a famous faminerelief concert that took place in the UK and America.”
“Yes, my parents used to talk about it,” said Josh. “It wasa pretty landmark event by all accounts.”
“It certainly was. There were concerts all over the world.Anyway, Jane’s story, which she told me about a hundred times, was that theymet when Mike spilled a drink all over her during legendary Aussie band Men atWork’s set.”
“I think I’ve heard of them,” said Josh. “Didn’t they dothat Down Under song?”
“That’s them,” said Henry. “Anyway, he offered to buy her adrink by way of an apology and after that they spent the rest of the daytogether. It was love at first sight, apparently, and they were gutted at theend of the night when they had to part. She lived locally, but he had travelledall the way there from Melbourne. They were both only seventeen and he had toleave her to travel back that night. Over the next few months they wrote toeach other every day. There was no internet back then, of course, andeventually he saved up the money to go and visit her in Sydney. They gotengaged, and he never went back.”
“It’s pretty obvious what we need to do,” said Josh. “Preventthem meeting and Vanessa will never be born.”
“I think so,” said Henry. “It means that Mike and Jane, andeveryone connected to them will live completely different lives, but it’s asmall price to pay to restore the world to at least something like we remember.”
“It’s a mere drop in the ocean compared to all the damageVanessa did. Let’s start making plans.”
“It’s going to be quite a challenge,” said Henry. “1985 isan awful long time ago.”
“I’ve spent plenty of time in the pre-internet era,” repliedJosh. “I know all about having to find people the old-fashioned way usingthings like phone books and electoral rolls. It might take a while, but we’lltrack them down.”
“The first thing we need to do is get off this island,”suggested Henry.
“Agreed,” said Josh. “Let’s knock back the rest of this wineand then tomorrow morning we can get started looking for that yacht.”
“Sounds like a plan,” said Henry, pouring more of thevintage wine into his glass and then topping up Josh’s.
“Cheers,” he said, clinking glasses. “Here’s to a freshstart for the world.”
“A Vanessa-free world,” added Josh.
“Truly a better place,” added Henry, as they continued todrink their wine in the warm evening air, watching the palm trees sway in themoonlight as the waves crashed on the shore beyond.
Tomorrow, the hard work would really begin.
Chapter Twenty-Three
September 2058
In theory, preventing Vanessa’s parents from meeting oughtto be a pretty straightforward task. The real challenge lay in actually gettingto Australia in the first place.
They knew that Vanessa must have a yacht stashed somewhere,but Josh was sure it wasn’t on the island because he had explored every inch ofit. The only vessel he had ever seen here was the small rowing boat he haddiscovered on his first day.
“Maybe we could row to the nearest inhabited island and finda bigger boat there?” suggested Josh.
“That’s Bequia, over twenty miles away,” replied Henry.“We’re two middle-aged men, not Olympic athletes. Do you feel up to rowingtwenty miles?”
“No, not really.”
“We would be better off rowing to the nearest island,” saidHenry. “It’s less than half a mile by my reckoning. She’ll have that yachtstashed over there, I’m sure of it. Because I can’t see her having been able torow this boat more than half a mile or so, either.”
Henry was proved right, as they found Vanessa’s yacht mooredin a small, natural harbour on the far side of that other island. It was a goodjob that they had, as even the short, half-a-mile trip had exhausted the two ofthem, even though they had been taking turns to row.
They travelled back to the first island in a fraction of thetime in the luxury yacht which they moored just offshore. The following daythey went back and forth using a small dinghy they had found on-board, using itto pack the yacht full of fuel, water, provisions and everything else theywould need for their long voyage to Australia. They also cleared out Vanessa’swine cellar, Josh pointing out that it would be a crime to leave all thatvintage wine down there gathering dust.
Josh wouldn’t have had a clue which way to point the boat,but fortunately Henry was an experienced sailor who was competent enough tonavigate using good, old-fashioned methods like a compass, the sea and thestars. This was just as well as the fall of civilisation meant that allsatellite navigation and radio communication was out.
The yacht was one of the most advanced, not to mention,expensive ever built, with an advanced new engine that required a minimum offuel, using an efficient electrical recovery system to generate the bulk of itsenergy it required, which was minimal with only two people on-board. At twenty metreslong, the craft was designed for up to twelve passengers.
The yacht may have been luxurious, but it didn’t prevent thejourney being long and fraught with danger. It was the Southern Hemisphere’swinter, and with no weather forecast available they were at the mercy of theelements.
One night there was a fierce storm which led them both tobatten down the hatches and hope for the best as the yacht took a realpounding, but it had been well designed to cope with such conditions and theyemerged unscathed – just – unlike the contents of Josh’s stomach. He wasn’t astrong sailor and spent many days of the voyage feeling decidedly queasy.
Finally, after six weeks, they sailed into the desertedMelbourne harbour. They had been prepared for the worst, with many monthshaving now passed since the plague struck, but the appearance exceeded theirworst expectations. Both were shocked at the appearance of the city. The stenchof decaying and dead bodies was everywhere, but it was the appearance of
