Ryan rolled his eyes. ‘Could you remind Peg that I moved on some time ago. And I’m not exactly going to be around to make him feel uncomfortable. Tell him to get over himself and go out with her.’
‘OK.’
‘Peg’s my best friend. He’s a good guy. He’ll take care of you.’
‘He said I can stay with him.’
Ryan nodded. ‘That’s good. He hates living alone. I’m going to get my dad to transfer some credit to Peg’s account. And to yours. You should decide on a school or college course. Anything. You could go to the Academy if you want.’
‘I don’t care about going to school,’ I said. ‘None of that matters.’
Ryan shut his eyes, then pulled me in for another hug. I could tell by the rhythm of his breathing that he was on the edge of tears.
‘No touching,’ the guard said again.
We ignored him.
‘Eden,’ he sighed into my hair. ‘I’m not going to be able to get out of this. Promise me you’ll move on with your life.’
I said nothing.
Ryan took a step back from me. His eyelashes were wet. ‘Please promise me that. When I’m up there, I don’t want to be worrying about you. I want to know that you’re happy and that you have friends.’
‘I promise,’ I whispered.
He leant towards me, his breath gentle against my skin. And then his lips met mine. I knew this kiss. This kiss meant goodbye. It was desperate and painful; it was filled with a lifetime of lost opportunities. I wrapped my arms around his back and under his shirt, feeling the soft heat of his skin under my fingers. The rest of the world disappeared.
‘OK, people, your time is up,’ said the guard.
Ryan and I pulled apart.
‘I love you,’ he said.
I wanted to tell him I loved him too, but instead I leant in to tell him one last thing. ‘This is not goodbye,’ I whispered.
Chapter 15
Ben had a car parked just outside. ‘You want to get some lunch?’ he asked.
I had no appetite, but I needed to talk to Ben.
We drove in silence into town. I was empty and numb. Every second was a second further away from Ryan. I wanted to hold on to everything about him: the feel of his arms around me, the smell of his skin, the shape of his eyes. The thought that I would never see him again was unbearable. I’d totally believed that the court would find Ryan not guilty. Saving my life was so obviously the right thing to do from where I was standing.
Ben chose a quiet restaurant at the edge of town. He ordered us both coffees and grilled cheese sandwiches.
‘Tell me about the Lunar Facility,’ I said.
‘It’s the worst place in the world.’ He laughed bitterly. ‘It’s on the far side of the moon; the face we never see from here on Earth. People say that it was built on the far side so that the prisoners never get to see their home planet. They mine helium-3. It’s our main fuel source these days.’
The sandwiches arrived then, grilled cheese oozing out of two thick slices of toasted white bread.
‘I thought you’d like this place,’ said Ben. ‘It serves old-fashioned stodgy food, like they eat back in your time.’
The smell of the toast brought my appetite rushing back to me. I took a huge bite and savoured the tangy hot cheese. A com-screen on the wall was showing a report about the verdict. Admiral Wolfe was addressing the reporters outside the Institute. Although the com-screen was set to mute, subtitles told the story. ‘The families of powerful, influential people should not expect preferential treatment,’ says Admiral Titan Wolfe after the sentencing of trainee time agent Orion Westland. ‘The Time Court must be tough on crime. And that means all criminals.’
Ben poured cream into his cup and stirred it slowly. ‘I know it must be really hard for you right now. But you need to think about what you’re going to do next.’
I stopped chewing and looked up at him. ‘The whole trial was a sham,’ I said. ‘Wolfe should never have been allowed to try the case. He’d decided the outcome before he even heard it.’
‘It doesn’t seem right,’ Ben agreed.
‘He’ll have to appeal,’ I said. ‘He could argue that Wolfe was not an impartial judge.’ I brushed the crumbs from my mouth. ‘How soon will he be able to appeal?’
‘Eden, you can’t appeal against a decision made in the Time Court. It is the highest court in the world. Its decisions are final.’
My appetite went. I pushed the plate to one side. ‘You mean . . .’
‘The sentence will stand.’
The room tilted and swayed. I grabbed the edge of the table to steady myself.
‘Drink some water,’ said Ben, quickly pouring me a glass.
I took a small sip. The panic turned to nausea. ‘What am I going to do?’
‘There’s nothing you can do.’
Ben changed the subject then. He asked about the Lakeview Hotel and whether I’d found a legal guardian. Was I looking for work or did I want to finish my schooling? Had I met Ryan’s parents? What about his friends?
‘Are the reporters following you everywhere?’ he asked.
‘I try to give them the slip. I have a baseball cap that helps.’
‘You should move somewhere else where no one knows you. Start over. Or move to Penpol Cove.’
Nothing would make me sadder. The thought of going back to Penpol Cove over a hundred years after I’d left – when everyone I knew was dead and buried – was unthinkable.
‘What about you? What’s this new job of yours?’
‘I’m not a time agent any more,’ he said. ‘I had to plan ahead. If Wolfe becomes president of the Institute, he’s planning to ban all time travel. I don’t want to be obsolete. I’m now in charge of the Inter-Planetary Spaceport. It’s like a border patrol for all ships entering or leaving Earth’s airspace.’
‘So will Ryan’s ship have to dock there on the way to the moon?’
‘Yes. His ship will dock for a crew change and for routine quarantine procedures. Typically a prison ship docks for twenty-four hours.’
‘Will you get to see him?’
He nodded. ‘I’ll make sure I do. You have my contact details, Eden. If you wanted a job on the spaceport, I could fix you up with something. Food and accommodation come as part of the package. You can make good money, even as a cleaner or a waitress.’
I had no interest in making lots of money working on a spaceport as a cleaner. But I knew Ben was trying to help.
It was two in the afternoon. My limbs felt restless. Back in my time, I would have gone for a run, but here in Lakeborough it was too hot. I wandered aimlessly along the road that led out of town. Away from the cooling breeze of the lakeside, the air grew hotter and sticky; the tarmac seemed to be melting under my shoes. Sweat beaded on my skin and scalp. I passed the old library and a few semi-derelict clapboard houses that had probably once been rather grand homes, past the timber warehouses, past the sliproad to the highway, until I was on the old road that led to the suburbs and the mountains.
My head was spinning with worries. The mere thought of Ryan locked up for ever in a prison on the moon with no visitors and no hope of ever leaving was so distressing that every time my mind strayed in that direction, I pulled it back. And then there was me. I had enough credit to last a few more weeks. Moving in with Peg would help, but I was going to have to find some kind of job as soon as possible. I’d never had a job before, not even a part-time job, so I had no skills or experience to draw on. Was I going to stay here in Lakeborough? Did it really matter where I was if Ryan was on the moon? The only people I knew at all were Ryan’s friends and Ben. Should I go to the spaceport where Ben was captain? That was closer to Ryan than here on Earth, but not close enough. I had no answers.