Kingdom: The Complete Series (21 page)

“
He
couldn't face the music,” says the Trespasser. “Coward.”

“
There's
a trapdoor in there,” Mark says, pointing to the old factory. “Through the fire
door. Under there you'll find a group of admin workers. They're all a part of
the Kingdom Project. You'll also find files and documents incriminating
everybody involved in it, no doubt including your commander -”

“
Command,”
Trespasser One says. “He was called 'Command'.”

“
Him,
then,” Mark corrects himself. The black-clad soldiers size him up, before
turning back to Trespasser One.

“
So
what happens now?” asks Trespasser One.

“
We
have to take you all into Agency custody, I'm afraid,” the lead officer says.
“This is going to require one hell of an investigation – not to mention we were
all ordered to ignore your broadcast. My money says the Agency is going to be
getting a serious refit. We're
all
up for investigation.”

“
I'd
have done the same for you,” Trespasser One tells his comrade.

“
That's
why we came.”

“
Just
do me a favour, Trespasser Two,” he stands up off the edge of the chopper.

“
Yeah?”

“
That
guy up there, the King? Watch him like a hawk. Do it personally. He's got
people everywhere and he'll get out if you give any of them the slightest
chance. There are people much higher up the chain than Command who wanted to
see this thing work out, and they'll try to protect their investment.”

“
I'll
see to it,” says Trespasser Two, and turns and signals to the squad that went
to get the King. One of them holds a thumbs up, and Trespasser Two turns back
to them. “You'll need to wait here with some guards while we check out this
administration facility, then we'll take you back to the holding facilities.”

Jamie speaks up, moving
closer to Chloe.

“
I'm
not going to any prison.”

Trespasser Two looks at
One.

“
He
a target?”

“
He
is.”

“
What?”
shouts Jamie.

“
He
means you got hit by the fire,” Two tells him. “You're different. The holding
facilities are just until we can figure out what happened to you – if you need
any help.”

“
I've
managed fine myself.”

“
I
bet you a nosebleed says otherwise,” says Two without missing a beat. “Relax.
We're not going to start doing experiments or anything. We just need to
understand what happened, and prepare for what comes next.”

“
What
comes next?” asks Mark.

“
They'll
explain once we're there.” Trespasser One rubs his eyes, and extends a hand to
Trespasser Two. “Thanks again for coming, Two.”

“
Don't
thank me yet, this entire thing is still a massive shit storm and you're dead in
the centre of a lot of sights just now.”

The figures walk away,
leaving two shadowy guards to watch over them. Mark sits on the ground beside
his mother, checking that she's ok, whilst Chloe takes Jamie's hand and steps
in close, telling him:

“
You
did what you had to; the King and his men, I mean.”

“
I'd
do it again,” he says. “After what he put us through, I didn't even hesitate.”

“
Everything
that's happened – if you want to talk about it -”

“
Bit
soon, Chloe.”

“
Sure,”
she says. “As long as you're ok.”

He looks at her and
smiles.

“
I'm
ok,” he says, and comes in closer, whispering, “but we can still run, if you
want? They won't even see us leave.”

She looks around at the
people she has come to know over the last day, and in that moment the rain
stops as suddenly as it started, as though somebody had turned it off at the
switch. Her nose is filled with that indescribable smell that you find after a
rainstorm – when the air is clean, as though it has filtered all of the badness
out. A little beam of amber sunlight breaks through the darkness and sparkles
over Glasgow as day finally turns to night, and she rests her head on his
shoulder and says.

“
I
think I'm done running.”

He smiles and puts a
soggy arm around her.

“
Yeah,
me too.”

Epilogue

2
Months Later

Movement
catches Jamie's attention out of the corner of his eye, and he turns his head
to see Mark walk into the room. The janitor looks a world better than the
bruised, half-starved figure that Jamie remembers.

“
Mark,”
he smiles; Mark is wearing the same black overalls that he is.

“
Jamie,”
Mark gives him a beaming smile and walks past rows of chairs to sit beside
them.

The room looks like a
classroom: rows of chairs with a large whiteboard or video screen at the front,
sterile white and as clean as a hospital ward.

Mark shuffles in and
sits beside Jamie – the two shake hands, and Jamie catches the familiar scent
of alcohol coming from the janitor, masked by a heavy veil of aftershave.
There's a bit more weight on his face now: he no longer resembles a walking
scarecrow with visible cheekbones. 

“
They
treating you and Chloe ok?” asks Mark, reclining back in the steel chair.

“
Very,”
Jamie nods. “Better than I thought. They tell you what this is all about?”

Mark gives him a
cynical laugh.

“
Nah,
they've just been keeping me on the booze to stop my nose bleeding.”

“
I
was told not to use my powers until they could observe me.”

“
They
tested you yet?”

“
Health
wise yeah – I'm fine as long as I don't push it, but -”

“
But?”
Mark prompts him.

“
They
haven't tested the actual power yet. It makes them nervous for some reason.”

“
Think
we'll meet the others today?”

“
It'd
be a waste of all these chairs if it was just the two of us.”

The door clatters open
and they both turn, seeing a familiar half-scarred face nod their way.

“
Trespasser,”
shouts Mark waving.

The Trespasser wears
the same black overalls, with insignia and ribbons adorning the breast and
regiment-badges on his arms.

“
Lads,”
says Trespasser One, and walks to the front of the room. “The others not here
yet, I take it?”

“
Unless
one of them can turn invisible,” says Mark, turning as he waits for somebody to
appear.

Nobody does, despite
the hope in his eyes.

“
No,
she's not here yet,” the Trespasser shakes his head, pointing at the door. “Ah,
here they come.”

A troop of people
wearing black overalls enter the room as one unit. An older man in glasses
leads the way, and after him comes a short, young woman with a long pony tail,
a slight overbite and badly concealed acne. Another woman, older and with long
crows feet coming from her eyes, follows. She's heavier than the younger woman,
her body lacking any defining shape. Finally, another younger man comes in
behind them, a short lad with a swagger and eyes too close together.

They sit together, away
from Mark and Jamie, and the two sets of overall-clad civilians eye each other
with curiosity. Mark gives them a wave that only the older man returns with a
polite nod.

“
We're
all here,” says Trespasser One, “good.”

The soldier picks up a
remote and clicks it, bringing the video screen to life.

A blurry picture of an
explosion, cast against a dark night, appears on the screen.

“
Anybody
know what this is?”

“
Explosion
in the middle of the night?” offers Jamie.

“
This
is what hit you two months ago. The fire that fell on Glasgow. This is a
picture taken from a digital telescope that happened to be pointing up when the
fire came.”

The Trespasser clicks
the remote again, and they see another picture that is the same, although
somebody may have smeared grease over the camera lens.

“
This,”
the solider tells them, “is a picture taken from a satellite mounted telescope
peering into space. One of several – we've been looking for something like this
ever since we found out that the fire was coming.”

“
What
is it? Another one?”

“
We
think so.”

“
Is
it going to hit us?”

This is the older man
at the back. His voice has no fear in it – he speaks like a scholar, more
curious than afraid. The Trespasser answers him.

“
The
last time, the fire was on a course to miss us. It continually corrected its
course as it approached to make sure it hit earth.”

“
That's
why you thought it was an alien intelligence.”

“
Indeed.
We expect this one to do the same.”

“
What
do we know?” asks Jamie.

“
That
if it hits us, it'll be in about a month. Some of our boys have analysed the
light coming from it and it seems to be made of the same stuff that the first
one was – which is, we have no idea what the hell it's made of. But it is the
same composition of whatever-the-hell.”

“
But
it's coming?”

“
It
is. We can expect arrival in twenty nine days, if all of our information is
correct.”

“
Do
we know where?”

The Trespasser shakes
his head.

“
No
way to tell. The last one corrected course at the last moment to hit Glasgow.
It may just have aimed here because it was the shortest path to the ground when
it arrived. This one could hit anywhere, just the same. It might correct its
course as well.”

“
So
what do
we
do?”

This comes from the
young, red-faced girl with the pony tail. Her voice is a nasal squeak with a
heavy Glaswegian accent.

“
Like,
what's this got to do with us?” she asks.

“
As
many of you will remember,” the Trespasser sighs, “we had a lot of trouble
bringing in the people hit by the fire; yourselves.”

Jamie watches him shift
around as though he's nervous, and that worries him.

“
This
time, our hope is that we'll be better prepared – we know roughly what to
expect. If we're going to get another batch of people with powers, we want to
be ready.”

“
You
want to train us to fight people with powers?” laughs Mark. “What is this, a comic
book?”

“
No,”
the Trespasser says. “The potential for civilian casualties if two powered
people fought is ridiculous. We want to prepare you all for field work: when
the fire hits we can track them down, but we think they'd be more willing to
come in if they knew they weren't in danger. For example, if they knew that the
last people who got hit by the fire – you guys – are safe and well. Maybe even
if it was you guys speaking to them. This avoids the need for shooting or
strike teams.”

Mark and Jamie give
each other a look, raising their eyebrows.

“
We
begin training for field work tomorrow,” the Trespasser says, “and I'll be
overseeing your training and deployment myself. Admin and law departments will
take you through all of the paperwork and we'll have professionals talk you
through the details. The rest of today is free: no tests, no training.”

“
That's
it?” Jamie asks.

“
That's
it,” Trespasser One nods. “You'll be taken through team building exercises as
well, basic training for working in operations, and so on. We've a lot to do
and not a lot of time.”

“
This
is weird,” Mark chuckles. “We're going to be like a team of super-powered
therapists.”

“
I'll
see you all tomorrow,” the Trespasser says. “You're all dismissed.”

The room is filled with
the screech of chairs being pushed back, and Jamie and Mark give each other
another knowing look and then nod, walking towards the group of new people –
other people that were hit by the fire.

“
Shall
we introduce ourselves?” asks Jamie, and Mark follows him over to them.

That
Day

Dumbarton
Emergency Detention Centre

The man once known as
the King sits on the edge of his bunk, staring into the floor, his mind working
over and over through the various problems set before him. The cell is bare
save the hard wooden bed and a blanket, a black mirror of the room that Mark
once slept in – not that the King knows that.

The cells are freshly
poured concrete; the best effort that the army could manage when confronted
with a few thousand arrests of highly dangerous criminals and disgraced
politicians and business; all in a few days.

A letterbox opens and a
tray filled with food that looks as though it was dropped on the floor and
scooped back up again is pushed through. At first the King ignores it – he'll
eat when they bring him food worth eating.

Before the guard walks
away, he gives the King a hard stare through the letterbox, and the King sits
up straight.

Something in those
eyes.

Something he
recognises.

He scrambles for the
tray and throws the food off of it, and under a slice of cardboard bread he
finds it: written in faint white marker on the tray, visible only at an angle
where the dull light can pick it out.

Arrival in twenty nine
days. Be ready.

He grins, and rubs the
message out before returning to his seat, leaving the floor strewn with food.
The King sits down, rests his head on his steepled fingers, and begins to plan.

End
Of Series One