Chasing Stars

Chapter 16

As soon as Peg was done with work, we drove to the Institute. For the sake of appearances, we took a quick tour of the museum and purchased some gifts in the shop. Peg picked up a pen with the Space and Time Institute logo on the side and I bought a snow globe, with the Institute sitting in the middle of a big green lawn.

‘Let’s buy ice creams,’ said Peg, as we set off across the real lawn.

All around us families were sitting in the shade enjoying picnics, while little children ran around pretending to be spaceships.

‘I’m not hungry.’

‘It will look more convincing if we’re eating ice creams.’

I let him buy me a vanilla cone, though I was much too nervous to have an appetite. Slowly we strolled across the neat green grass, heading towards its outer perimeter. I took a quick lick of my ice cream, but it was sickeningly sweet. Peg was eating his in large bites. I watched him out of the corner of my eye as my ice cream melted and then dripped down my hand to my wrist and inside the sleeve of my shirt.

‘You want mine?’ I asked, as he shoved the end of his cone into his mouth.

He nodded, took the ice cream and waited while I wiped my hand clean on the grass.

‘Once we get him out of the building, we have to get him off the grounds,’ said Peg, looking around. ‘We can’t go through the main entrance because of the gate and security. We’d be stopped, obviously.’

I looked around. The Institute was surrounded on all sides by a vast lawn which was bordered by forest to the east and west, a small lake to the north and a car park and guarded entranceway to the south.

‘It has to be through the forest,’ I said. ‘We can’t escape using a pedalo!’

‘Let’s go and check it out.’

We continued walking across the lawn till the grass began to thin and we reached the edge of the forest.

‘Won’t it look a bit suspicious if we just wander into the woods?’ I said.

‘I don’t think so. This area is open to the public so we’re not doing anything wrong. We just have to look like we’re having fun, not checking out the grounds for an escape route.’

The shade was a welcome respite from the thick humidity on the lawn. We walked deep into the trees until we reached a high metal fence and the lawn was just a hint of bright green in the distance.

‘Damn,’ I said, staring at the fence. ‘This could be a problem.’

Peg leant close to it. ‘It’s electrified. Not good.’

‘So even if we get him out of the Institute, we can’t escape through the forest . . .’

‘Maybe there’s a break in the fence somewhere.’

I sighed. Now we were here, a rescue attempt seemed such a long shot. ‘It’s a boundary fence,’ I said. ‘Obviously designed to keep people out. We’re not going to find a break in it.’

‘Come on. Let’s follow the fence towards the back of the Institute,’ said Peg, striding ahead.

We continued north-west, heading towards the back where the lake and the service entrance was.

‘It makes sense that the service entrance will be easier to escape from than the heavily guarded main entrance,’ said Peg. ‘Maybe we could bring in a laundry truck or something as our cover. Get Ryan out through the service entrance and into the truck.’

‘There must be a particular company they use,’ I said. ‘For laundry. If we knew who they were, one of us could get a job as a driver with them and . . . damn! We need more time.’

‘We have to work with what we’ve got,’ said Peg. ‘Let’s see if we can get a bit closer to that service entrance.’

Silently, we made our way through the trees towards the building. The closer we were to the edge of the forest, the harder my heart knocked in my chest.

‘This is close enough,’ whispered Peg, when we were about ten trees’ depth from the edge of the forest. Beyond the trees here was not lawn, but a yard. A lorry pulled up outside a loading bay and we watched as two men began unloading sacks of rice and crates of carrots.

‘Looks like we’ve found the kitchen,’ said Peg in a low voice.

‘Maybe we could smuggle him out in a food delivery truck,’ I said. ‘What’s the name of the company? I can’t quite read it from here.’

Peg stepped forward a few paces, squinting into the distance. ‘Norberry Foods,’ he said.

‘Can’t we bribe a driver to let us make the delivery or something?’

‘Maybe.’

He didn’t sound convinced. I knew why. Even if we left through the service entrance, we’d have to drive through the security gate, possible roadblocks, not to mention a delivery driver who knew too much.

‘What do we do now?’ I asked.

‘Back to mine to see what Antoine and Belle have managed to find out.’

Antoine and Belle arrived five minutes after we did.

‘You find out anything useful?’ I asked.

Antoine unfolded a map. ‘Belle and I have studied the area. There’s a Forest Service road that runs along here.’ He pointed to a section of the map. ‘It’s about a mile away from the Institute. If we can get Ryan out of the building, through the forest to this track, one of us can be here waiting for him.’

‘There’s one slight obstacle,’ I said. ‘It’s a two-metre high electrified metal fence.’

‘Is it definitely electrified?’ asked Antoine.

‘’Fraid so,’ said Peg.

‘Did you check to see if there are any gaps in the fence?’ asked Belle. ‘Or gates?’

‘The only gap in the fence is where the forest meets the lake,’ I said. ‘So unless we want to escape using a pedal boat, or by swimming, we’re all out of luck.’

‘It’s going to have to be the main gate then,’ said Antoine.

‘It’s looking that way,’ said Peg. ‘I’m going to look into the companies that deliver to the Institute and see if we can borrow a truck.’

‘And then what?’ I asked.

‘If we get Ryan to the shipyard, and on to one of the little space hoppers, we can take him far away. Outside of the Federation even. He could fly the ship himself.’

‘And go where?’ asked Belle.

Peg shrugged. ‘Anywhere. I’d say that’s the least of our worries right now.’

‘OK, so we have a sort-of plan to get him off the Institute grounds and out of the Federation,’ I said, ‘but first we have to break him out of the Institute. Did you manage to get a map, Antoine?’

He closed his eyes and shook his head. ‘I’m sorry, Eden. I tried. We both did.’

Belle held out her arms. She had a plaster around her left thumb, a bandage around her right wrist and another plaster on her elbow. ‘I managed to burn myself twice and cut myself with a knife,’ she said.

‘Three times Mum left the office to see to Belle. Every time she locked her computer,’ said Antoine. ‘I tried to hack my way in. But I couldn’t. I guess she’s more careful than I thought.’

‘We have to find a way to get a map of the inside,’ said Peg. ‘Or something. Even a rough sketch would be something to go on.’

‘Did you learn anything from inside the museum?’ asked Belle.

‘No,’ said Peg. ‘There were guidebooks, but they just had photographs of the public rooms. And you can’t access anywhere else from the museum.’

‘We need to find a way in,’ said Belle. ‘I wonder if we could get Lyra to interview a member of the kitchen staff? Maybe she could get a tour of the service level.’

The doorbell rang. Peg jumped off the couch to answer it. He came back a few seconds later with a parcel.

‘It’s for you, Eden.’

‘What? Who would send me a parcel?’

‘Delivery guy said he tried the Lakeview Hotel first, but they told him you’d moved here.’

‘I left a forwarding address,’ I said, taking the parcel.

I tore off the brown paper to reveal a white box with a lid. I lifted the lid. Inside was a long length of shimmering blue fabric, laid on a thick bed of white tissue paper.

‘It’s a dress,’ I said, lifting it out of the box.

‘God, it’s beautiful,’ said Belle, helping me hold it up.

It was pale blue silk with a beaded bodice.

‘Who the hell would send me a dress?’ I said, confused.

‘There are shoes in here too,’ said Belle, looking into the box. ‘Heels.’ The shoes were the same blue colour as the dress. ‘And a letter,’ said Belle, passing me a small blue envelope.

I ripped it open. Inside was a simple handwritten note.

Be my date for the Late Summer Ball? CW

I laughed. ‘I can get inside the Institute.’

Everyone looked at me.

‘If I go to the Late Summer Ball with Clarence Wolfe tomorrow.’