Free Send Simon Savage #1 by Stephen Measday Page B

Danice.’
    Danice nodded. ‘The Chieftain sends us.’
    ‘There are now all sorts of wild animals living in this forest,’ Creele said. ‘Feral boars, dogs, lions, tigers, even elephants.’
    ‘What—in North America?’ Simon turned to Danice. ‘Is this true?’
    ‘You bet.’
    ‘This is a different North America,’ McPhee said, scratching his beard with his long fingers. ‘The ancestors of these creatures probably escaped from zoos during the water wars, then bred and spread into the forests.’
    ‘That’s why we live high in the trees,’ Danice added.
    Creele changed the screen to a close-up image. It showed a section of the forest, as well as a rocky escarpment and what looked like a walled city. Three large buildings in the centre were surrounded by roads, laneways and thousands of smaller structures.
    ‘That’s what you call Old City,’ Cutler said to Danice. ‘Naturally, you’ve never seen it from this angle, but if you look closely, you might recognise some landmarks.’
    Danice stood up and stepped closer to the screen. She pointed at the larger buildings. ‘These towers are where the Tribunes live.’
    ‘Who are they, exactly?’ McPhee asked. ‘We know very little of the political situation.’
    ‘They’re our … rulers,’ Danice replied. ‘Not very nice people. But we have to do what they say.’
    ‘What do you mean?’ McPhee asked. ‘Do they use force? Fear?’
    Danice bit her lips, nervous about being the centre of attention. She glanced from the screen, to McPhee, to Cutler and back to the screen again.
    ‘There are only three Tribunes,’ she explained. ‘But they have soldiers and guards. If you ignore their orders, or refuse to work for them, or pinch food from the stores, then they send you to the Prison Farms. Or make you a slave in the factories.’ She took a shaky breath. ‘They took my father and made him a slave because he was trying to help people escape from the city. And he was trying to set up a school.’
    ‘A school in the forest?’ Simon asked.
    Danice nodded. ‘Though people get punished for a lot less than that. My dad was a teacher for a while, that’s why I can read and write. A bit, anyway. The Tribunes have special teachers for their own kids, and for the kids of their friends. But, mostly, no one can read or write.’
    ‘Tell us about this Chieftain that you mentioned,’ McPhee said.
    ‘We work for him.’ Danice pointed to the screen. ‘His fortress is just there, south of the city.’
    Creele hit a key and the screen changed to an image of a walled compound on the cliff edge, with a few stone buildings and a couple of visible cave entrances.
    ‘That looks like it,’ Danice said. ‘You see? Those two big gates are in the wall around the caves where he lives.’ She moved even closer to the screen. ‘The gate in the north wall is for the road to the city, and the one on the western wall is where we come and go from the forest.’
    ‘Are you saying this Chieftain lives in a cave?’ Simon asked.
    ‘Yeah, the cave entrance is there.’ Danice pointed to a dark patch on the escarpment, about a hundred metres from the northern gate. ‘But it’s well set up inside. A room with a big throne, lots of furniture. Kind of …’
    ‘Luxurious,’ McPhee suggested.
    ‘Yes,’ Danice replied. ‘He gives us special food. Not Syn-food, but real food, fresh meat and vegetables. He’s not short of anything.’
    ‘Do you go on your time-trips from these caves?’ Simon asked.
    ‘Yeah, but from deep underground,’ Danice replied. ‘There’s this big tunnel and a Time Accelerator, just like the one here.’
    ‘So now we’re narrowing things down!’ exclaimed McPhee. ‘Perhaps we could have the next picture, Sandra?’
    ‘Right. Further inland, on the eastern side of Old City, there’s this structure,’ Creele said, showing an image of a big square building with a colossal domed structure to one side. ‘It’s a nuclear power station, a few