Free Dave Trellis and the Allotments of Doom by S.B. Davies Page B

over and kissed Fergus on the lips.
    ‘I really,
really must go. Mrs Yorkshire keeps a strict curfew,’ she passed
the bottle of wine to Fergus and stood up.
    ‘Go and see
Dave. He needs some company and perhaps he can help you become a
warrior. Goodbye Fergus.’
    ‘Tarrah
gorgeous,’ said Fergus and watched Boadicea’s leather clad behind
walk away across the lawn. It was a wonderful thing to behold.
    Fergus sat and
finished the wine, thinking about what Boadicea said, how she felt,
and the possibility of feeling more. Then he remembered the stone.
He jumped up and trotted over the lawn towards the Pavilion.
     
     
    Fergus walked
into Dave’s kitchen. On the table was an opened bottle of whiskey;
he poured himself a generous measure.
    He knocked on
the living room door.
    ‘Come in
lad.’
    ‘How did you
know it was me?’
    Dave nodded
towards the three dogs curled up in baskets around the flickering
fire.
    ‘It was someone
they knew and someone they thought should be here. They think you
can help.’
    As there was
nowhere else to sit, Fergus made himself comfortable in one of the
empty dog baskets.
    ‘You alright
Dave?’
    ‘Of course I’m
alright, I’m always alright… You know about Abbey don’t you?’
    ‘Enoch showed
me the whole recording,’ said Fergus.
    Dave sighed. ‘I
wanted to talk about things anyway, get a different perspective.
These bloody spiders are an ancient problem. In a way, it is good
news, as they really are a terrible menace, if I had let that first
one go, then we would be ten foot deep in the buggers by now. That
makes past events a bit more bearable.’
    Fergus sat
quietly waiting for Dave to continue.
    ‘Any road,
things aren’t as bright as Enoch makes out. With what we’ve got
there’s a chance they could break out and escape into the
countryside. Even worse, they could break into the catacombs and we
would never get them out.’
    ‘Surely they’d
starve?’ said Fergus.
    ‘No lad, there
is a whole ecology in the catacombs. It is far, far bigger than you
imagine. It’s a new world down there, populated over centuries by
off world visitors. There are vast caverns with light and plants
and even forests. They could live there for a long, long time.
    Anyways,
they’re coming back and we have to deal with them. I can’t trust
the future of Earth to an optimist like Enoch. The dogs don’t care.
They’d have to leave, but their civilisation would survive. I can’t
take the risk. I’m going to call in the authorities and everything
we have here will be destroyed.’
    ‘Perhaps not,’
said Fergus and held up the stone. Dave stared at him.
    ‘I had a chat
with that murgatroyd Atherton, traded what I knew about my heritage
for some information.’
    ‘Well, it was
yours to trade. What did you get in return? It’s difficult to
believe those miserable buggers would part with hard facts for
vague family stories.’
    ‘Once I
explained the possibility of a nuclear strike blowing up the
planet, it pretty much gave me the information. That we have
nuclear weapons seemed a bit of a surprise,’ said Fergus.
    ‘True, they
seem to think us mere monkeys half the time.’ Dave paused. ‘Mind
you they must be up to something. They couldn’t give a fart about
humanity. Something must be stopping them leaving. Well, that’s a
problem for another day. What did you find out?’
    Fergus held up
the stone again.
    ‘The writing is
too small to read,’ said Fergus.
    ‘And it’s in
Latin,’ said Dave.
    ‘Really? How
can you see from over there?’
    Dave looked
embarrassed.
    ‘You aren’t the
only one to benefit from off-world technology. Any road, we’ll get
it transcribed. It won’t take long, there’s all sorts of technology
floating abouts,’ said Dave and yowled at one of the dog’s. It
stood up and looked at Fergus, who handed it the stone. The dog
trotted off, nosed the door open and left.
    ‘So Dave,
what’s this book of yours all about?’
    Dave tilted his
head