‘Sofi?’ Gabrielle said, her hand on SJ’s arm. ‘But. How?’
A murmur rumbled through the crowd. Children were pulled back from the edge of the pit. Nervous glances were exchanged.
Helix raised his hands. ‘It’s OK. It doesn’t bite. Not unless I tell it to.’
‘What’s it doing here?’ the torch bearer snapped. ‘What are you doing here? There’s been nothing but bloody trouble—’
‘Shut up, Walt,’ SJ snapped. ‘You’re like a bloody parrot.’
‘You would say that, wouldn’t you.’ He squared up to SJ. ‘Being her sister an’ all.’
Helix caught Gabrielle’s eye. She pulled a tight-lipped smile, folded her arms.
‘Walt!’
The name echoed through the trees. Space was made for a dreadlocked man with beads in his beard. He moved alongside SJ.
‘It’s OK, Bo. I can look after myself,’ SJ said, pulling his arm.
‘It’s your turn to relieve Jess and check the other traps,’ Bo ordered, shoving Walt away from SJ.
‘They’ve got bells on. The same as this one. We’ll know—’
Bo snatched the torch from Walt. ‘Just go. Everyone’s had enough of your bitching.’
Nobody in the crowd disagreed, a few nodded.
Bo peered into the pit. ‘Who the hell are you?’
‘It’s Helix,’ SJ said, looping her arm through his.
‘The legendary Helix?’ Bo sneered, his hands on his hips. ‘What you doing in there, Robocop, up to your chest in shit and piss?’
SJ yanked at his arm. ‘Be nice.’
‘And who’s she?’ Bo added.
‘It’s my AI,’ Helix replied.
‘Whoa! Well, you can leave that bloody thing in there,’ Bo said, scratching his beard. ‘An AI robot? If that’s true, we don’t want it wandering around the camp. I’ve heard things about their so-called artificial intelligence.’
Lauren cried out in fear and rushed around the pit to Gabrielle, wrapping her arms around her waist.
‘Bo,’ SJ said. ‘Give it a rest. Let’s get them out of there.’
‘Who sent you? The bean counter?’ Bo said.
‘Who is this bean counter?’ Helix said, positioning the ladder that had finally arrived. ‘It’s the second time I’ve heard that today.’ The structure creaked as he climbed. The villagers shrunk away. Was it him or the lingering pong? His clothes had repelled most of the filth. Gabrielle rushed at him, threw her arms around him and immediately stepped back.
‘Yeah, sorry about the um…’ he murmured.
‘We better get you rinsed off,’ she said. ‘Don’t want you catching anything nasty.’
‘Pull it up,’ Bo ordered, pointing to the ladder.
‘Wait,’ Helix said. ‘I’ll vouch for her.’
The crowd exchanged nervous glances. Doubts were exchanged behind hands.
‘Listen. If I hadn’t told you what it was, you’d have all just assumed it was a woman, the same way I did.’
Gabrielle pulled at his arm. ‘Helix. Is it anything like… you know?’
He sighed. The fear in Lauren’s eyes made sense. Its previous incarnation was responsible for the murder of the kid’s mum.
Helix dropped to one knee. ‘It’s OK, Lauren. We can leave her in the pit if you’d prefer. But I need her to help me.’
Lauren’s blue eyes were full of questions.
‘If Helix says it’s safe, sweetheart,’ Gabrielle reassured, ‘it’ll be OK.’
Lauren nodded. ‘OK.’
Helix gestured to Sofi to climb. The crowd shuffled back a few more steps. Kids stepped from behind the security of their parents’ legs and approached gingerly as Sofi climbed out.
Helix switched to TC. ‘Patrol the perimeter. Try not to spook the natives. Make yourself useful. I want updates every 15 minutes.’
Sofi’s reply came back in his ear. ‘Roger that.’
The crowd parted as Sofi moved off, a retinue of grubby kids marching along in her wake, deaf to their parents’ protests.
‘They’ll be fine,’ Helix reassured.
Some didn’t look convinced, choosing to follow along or drifting back towards the camp.
‘So, the bean counter?’ Helix said, turning back to Gabrielle, SJ and Bo.
‘Justin.’ Gabrielle said, taking his hand. ‘He turned up a while back.’
Leaving Bo and SJ supervising the re-covering of the pit, Helix listened as they walked into the village. Gabrielle filled in the details of how Justin had arrived on horseback one afternoon accompanied by four other men and again the previous night. A bend in the path carried them between banks of rhododendrons and azaleas and into a broad clearing dotted with snow-covered yurts and assorted wooden structures in differing states of repair or construction.
‘What did he want?’ Helix said.
‘Last night he was on a charm offensive, wanted to apologise and ask for my forgiveness. The time before that they were trying to barter except they hadn’t quite grasped the concept of exchanging one thing of equal value for another,’ Gabrielle said, pulling his arm closer to hers. ‘He’s only sorry for is his predicament. He doesn’t give a damn about anyone else.’
‘How did he know where to find you?’
She sighed. ‘He’d seen the cards and letters I’d received from SJ over the years. She used to say how great it was out here, that it was only a short distance from Bristol. She even included a rudimentary map with one of them.’
‘And now he’s installed himself as lord of the manor in Chepstow castle.’ Helix laughed. ‘I can’t imagine him on a horse or getting his hands dirty living off the land.’
‘Living off the land doesn’t come into it. He’s clearly got contacts in Bristol. They supply most of the things he enjoys. Anything they can’t provide he takes from the communities like ours up and down the valley. Except he doesn’t take it himself. He gets his cronies to do that.’
‘If it’s just him and the four horsemen of the apocalypse it wouldn’t be that difficult to deal with.’
‘That’s what everyone else says. That was the idea of the pit,’ she said, pushing her hair behind her ears. ‘They wanted to fill it with sharpened stakes but I talked them out of it. For now.’
‘I could send Sofi. She, it would sort them out.’
Gabrielle took a deep breath. ‘Let’s change the subject. How are you and how’s Ethan?’ she said. ‘I assume he’s listening as usual or watching what’s going on?’
Helix slowed. ‘In a manner of speaking. He’s… offline at the moment.’
‘OK. That’s unusual, no?’
He took both of
