The Future We Left Behind (3 page)

‘Replacements that saved the world’s food crops,’ Ms. Donlevy said, crossing her arms.

I was sitting there watching, shocked.

I mean no one talks to Ms. Donlevy like that. She’s one of
our more … 
formidable
lecturers. She can cut frivolous or disruptive students down with nothing more than a look.

But I also felt a little bit of admiration. The girl might be arguing at the expense of my father, but you had to admit: she
did
have a point.

‘I’m only suggesting that if we had focused our energies on attacking the mites we could have saved the real bees,’ the girl said matter-of-factly.

‘The word “could” is key in your observation,’ Ms. Donlevy said coldly. ‘And as much as I enjoy a game of “if only we had”, this is neither the time nor the place to indulge in such pursuits. I realise that you are new here, Miss Del Rey, so I will suggest to you that you keep your asides to yourself in future. Now if you could all open up your LinkPads …’

It wasn’t as bad a smacking down as Ms. Donlevy could have delivered, and I saw the faintest of smiles pass across Miss Del Rey’s lips when our eyes met.

My Top 5 LinkTunes Playlist

5
.

‘My Quantum Beatbox’ by The Definite Articles

A thumping slice of techno mayhem, with the vocals sampled from a children’s educational film about quantum jumps. Contains equations for the calculation of quantum events, but they never get in the way of the music. And the drum programmer isn’t just keeping time on this track, he’s inventing it
.

My Rating: ****

4
.

‘If I Dream’ by Mr. Melt

An orchestral opening gives way to some fierce industrial guitars in this cover version of an old Eddie Leakey choon. But where the original was about the courage of dreaming the impossible, Mr. Melt
subverts the message with subliminal tones that evoke nightmares
.

Powerful stuff
.

My Rating: ****

3
.

‘Until the Sun Goes Cold’ by Laurie Lauren

A smooth, chilled-out ballad. OK, it’s about the eventual cooling down of the sun, but it’s not as gloomy as that might make it sound. Laurie’s voice stretches through the octaves, but it’s in a less showy way than on her last few tracks. ‘The last winter ever/Temperatures are falling/Hello Hello/Eternity is calling.’

My Rating: ****1/2

2
.

‘Lumpy Gravy’ by A Clinical Sign

Apparently another cover, but the original exists only on paper and hasn’t been heard for many centuries. A Clinical Sign are forging a bit of a niche for themselves by recording songs from so long ago, but it sounds fresh and new and as if it was written yesterday
.

My Rating: ****3/4

1
.

‘Forward, Only Forward’ by The Little Engines of Destruction

Every now and then a song comes along that manages to condense thousands of years of civilisation into one seven-minute dance track. DogFather’s ‘This Is Where We’re From’ started the trend, but TLEofD’s title track from their new compilation encyclopaedia takes the idea and runs with it
.

At times the compressed historical information is a little overwhelming, even disorientating, but I feel that was kind of the point. And, let’s face it, it’s a great way to learn
.

My Rating: *****

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Mercifully the lesson ended pretty soon after.

The rest of the class were filing out of the lecture hall, but I’d remained seated, waiting for the room to empty.

‘Look, I’m sorry about my outburst,’ said a voice at my shoulder. ‘But she really shouldn’t have done that.’

I turned around and was surprised to see Miss Del Rey. She was blonde, with piercing blue eyes and a mouth that looked mischievous.

I avoided turning bright red and managed to reply, ‘Who shouldn’t have done what now?’

‘Ms. Donlevy, putting you on the spot like that. It wasn’t
fair.’

‘I guess that’s the problem with following in the footsteps of someone with massive feet,’ I said, trying to sound dry and witty. ‘Or living in the shadow of a monolith. Choose your preferred metaphor.’

‘I think I’ll go for metaphor A,’ she said. ‘You’re Peter, right? I’m Alpha.’

‘Alpha?’ I asked her.

It was Alpha’s turn to look uncomfortable.

‘It’s better than Amalfi,’ she said. ‘That’s me, by the way. Amalfi Del Rey.’ She smiled a thin smile. ‘My parents didn’t seem to realise that a name has to be said out loud.’

I packed my LinkPad into my bag and zipped it up.

‘Anyway, I’m sorry. Attacking your father; it was out of line.’

I think I surprised her by smiling. ‘It was an interesting point you were making. And to be honest it was worth it just to see Ms. Donlevy’s face. It’s good to meet you, Alpha.’

‘Good to meet you too.’

I stood up and said: ‘You’re new.’

‘I know,’ Alpha replied impishly, ‘I was made just yesterday
in a secret factory. The same place they make sarcasm and the dappling of light through trees.’

‘I meant to this class.’

‘I know what you meant,’ she said. ‘And I deflected your observation with some sparkling wit. It’s called a defence mechanism. I’m enjoying talking to you, and know that as soon as you find out anything more about me, about my family, about my background, then any chance we have of being friends will be gone forever.’

I shook my head. This was weird, but I sort of
liked
her, and I didn’t want her to stop talking to me.

‘We
are
going to be friends,’ I told her. ‘In fact, it’s too late. It’s already happening.’

‘You say that now,’ Alpha said, ‘But when you hear my dark secrets, you’ll run a klick. In record-breaking time.’

‘I couldn’t break a record if I tried,’ I said. ‘Who wants to talk about family anyway?’ I offered her my hand. ‘Peter No-Middle-Name Vincent. Officially a friend of Amalfi Del Rey.’

She shook the hand gently, and smiled.

‘You’ll run a klick,’ she said, but warmly.

‘A lady of mystery.’ I grinned. ‘Save the secrets, I don’t even want to know them. How about we just go and get ourselves a drink?’

‘Done and done,’ Alpha said. ‘If you’re good, I might even let you pay.’

The Dark Secret of Amalfi Del Rey

So, I’ll run a klick, huh? But run from what?

Here are my top five guesses:

1
.
She’s a clone

We’ve been making them for years, because clones without consciousness make perfect transplant banks, but what if she is a clone that accidentally developed a real brain. And escaped from a spare-parts bank? And is on the run?

Likelihood rating: 1/2

2
.
She’s a serial killer

Once upon a time, long, long ago, people were born who were different to everyone else. Instead of going about their lives in the ordinary way, they hid under bridges and jumped out and killed
people. OK, so the existence of serial killers is probably a myth, a scary story to tell the kids, but what if she really is one? Better not go under any bridges with her, just to be on the safe side.

Likelihood rating: 1

3
.
She’s from a parallel universe

Certain interpretations of quantum theory say that there are zillions of multiple universes, even one where I’m made of cheese and am king of the world. Maybe she’s slipped over from the universe next door to borrow a cup of calcium, and she’s taking in a few of the sights before she leaves
.

Likelihood rating: 1 3/4

4
.
She’s a robot from the future

If you could send a robot back in time, chances are it wouldn’t look like a hunk of junk with death rays and stuff, but would be an exact replica of the people it was going to meet in the past. Maybe she is on a mission to change something in her past to avert a global catastrophe, and she’s made friends with me because I’m important to her unknowable future-robot scheme
.

Likelihood rating: 3

5. She’s completely imaginary

Maybe I’m losing my mind and I’m just imagining her. She’s like some
alter ego
or something, a figment of my imagination that embodies my essential boredom with the world. And I invented her to make my life a bit more … unpredictable
.

Likelihood rating: Let’s face it, 5

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We bought a pair of fruit soys from the refectory and took them outside to sit in the fresh air.

The sun above was scorching hot, but humidity was mercifully low. Yet again the people at Climate Control had managed to pull off another spectacular day, even reassigning the rain to somewhere that actually needed it.

I connected to my jacket with my filaments and in seconds it was a shirt.

Alpha turned a blouse and trousers into a floral-patterned dress.

A rough template, sure, but there were lots of pinks and
yellows in the pattern and it kind of worked.

I really don’t usually notice things like that.

We walked past the seats on the terrace and opted for the manicured lawn that sits out front of the college. There we discovered a mutual liking for mango soy and banana soy, but a mutual dislike for the banango variety.

‘Hybrid fruits creep me out,’ Alpha announced. ‘If you want an apple crossed with a gooseberry – which, in fact, I really
don’t
want – then put them in a blender, but don’t go combining genes.’

‘They’ll kick you out of Biogenetics class for statements like that,’ I said wryly.

‘They’ll do that the first time they grade one of my papers,’ Alpha said. ‘It’s my parents that are keen on me getting some science into my life, so here I am, hopping classes in a desperate hunt for something that I’m actually good at.’ She frowned. ‘Two classes with Ms. Donlevy have convinced me that biogenetics is not it.’

‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘Two lessons aren’t enough to make that judgment. You’ll find your feet soon.’

‘OK, I’ll stop talking like the world’s number one loser,’ she
said, and then she looked around us. ‘Has everyone here gone study mad?’

‘A centrally administered learning-quota adjustment,’ I said. ‘Or, in everyday linguish, they just raised the bar again.’

‘Looks like I picked a great time to arrive,’ Alpha said. ‘I guess I’ll start packing when I get home.’

‘No, you had a point today,’ I said. ‘I just don’t think Ms. Donlevy is looking to have her thinking changed.’

‘But you are.’ She arched an eyebrow and it kind of turned her statement into a question.

‘I guess so.’ I studied the muddy deposits at the bottom of my drink. ‘I’m trying to be the perfect student my father wants me to be, but he doesn’t seem to notice. Lately, I’ve been wondering why I work so hard to please him.’

‘It’s not a bad question,’ Alpha said.

‘I even signed up for a literature class. My father would freak if he found out.’

Alpha studied my face for a moment, and then shrugged. ‘We all have to do things our own way. There’s actually no point in following in another’s footprints
too
exactly, you’ll end up leaving no tracks of your own.’

I nodded.

‘The point is that you need to stop worrying about what others think and start concentrating on what
you
want,’ Alpha said.

‘I guess that’s where I hit the wall,’ I said. ‘I don’t know what it is that I want. I just know that this …’ I gestured around me, ‘is not quite it.’

‘That’s a start, though, isn’t it?’ Alpha said. ‘Sometimes I feel that we all have potential inside us, we just have to discover what our greatness is and how to let it out.’

‘I’d settle for quite goodness.’ I said.

‘The universe has a way of putting us where we need to be,
when
we need to be there,’ she said. ‘Then it’s up to us to rise to the challenge, or turn our back and let someone else be great.’ She shook her head. ‘You are allowed to tell me to shut up. I mean, the girl most likely to fail school is giving advice on greatness.’