The Carhullan Army

me to be celibate during my induction, but she had warned me not to cause trouble between the women. I wasn’t sure how she would react to news that I had gone with them to the crofts and been late coming home, or that I’d given her patrol the slip.
    She cupped a hand over her nose, rubbed it, and sniffed loudly before speaking. There was something about her timing that always seemed disconcerting and meticulous. ‘Martyn’s well, is he?’ she asked. Chloe looked up from her dinner. ‘He’s OK. Better than he was.’ Jackie nodded. ‘And the slake’s all in now, is it?’ I could not help reading a slight note of rebuke into the question, as if Jackie did not wholly approve of Chloe’s visits to her husband. It was Lillian who responded. ‘Yeah, just about, thanks to Sister. We’ve turned another step in case we need it. Be better to dry it inside but we’re full up already as it is. It’s been good having another pair of hands this year.’
    Jackie’s pale piercing eyes ran over the group. When they reached me they stopped. She stood up, still looking at me. ‘Well done,’ she said. The comment was not directed at the others, and I knew she wasn’t talking about the peat.

FILE FIVE

PARTIAL CORRUPTION

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    [Data Lost]

    Shruti had just left my bunk and I was falling through the first stage of sleep when the unit ran the mock raid. I had calmed her down after the fight, holding her head against my chest, stroking her hair and trying to ease the images out of her head. It had disturbed her to see Chloe’s face so bloody and swollen. There were few such altercations at the farm, and if Jackie had not broken it up, it would have been much worse. I barely registered Shruti moving when she got up. She leaned over and brushed my cheek with her lips. ‘See you tomorrow,’ I managed to mumble.
    The doors were suddenly kicked open and before I knew what was happening there was noise and commotion, instructions were yelled out and the women in the dormitory found themselves lying face down on the floor with guns pointing at their heads. Confused and clumsy, I wondered if the Authority had arrived.
    I could still taste Shruti in my mouth as I lay with my cheek pressed on the boards, and my heart pounding. A few people were whimpering. A cold shank of metal, maybe the barrel of a gun, came to rest gently on the back of my skull. Then it was lifted off. I could hear the baby crying in the barn next door, and the younger children who slept with their mothers were being told to hush.
    The drill was carried out expertly, almost in darkness; the eerie glow from a hand-held light-stick was the only illumination as the covers were torn off each bed. Then the lights were switched on and Jackie walked into the room. I looked up. She had on fatigues, a thick padded vest with loops across its placket, and her hair was tied back. Her backbone looked completely extended, she stood erect, and her face was stern and remote, as if every person on the floor were a stranger to her. There was a haughty magnificence to the way she positioned herself in the centre of the dormitory, looking down on those held captive and kneeling at her feet.
    The others in her unit wore balaclavas over their faces and black clothing. There were eight of them in the room, stationed at different points, holding short black rifles that I had never seen at Carhullan before. I could not tell who was who under the woollen helmets. I knew Megan and Corky would be among them, stationed either in our dormitory or another. They ran through the motions of what seemed to be a well-planned ambush.
    ‘Give me a count?’ Jackie said. ‘All in,’ replied one of the unit. Jackie nodded and the women tipped their guns down a fraction and filed out. She held up her hands. ‘All right, ladies. Thank you for your cooperation. You’ve been very helpful. Sorry to disturb you. Try and get some rest now and I’ll go over all this with you tomorrow.’ She turned on her heel and left, closing the dormitory door behind her.
    For a moment there was absolute quiet. Then people began groaning and swearing as they climbed back into bed. ‘What the hell was that about?’ I asked Nnenna. She looked distraught. She shook her head, rolled over and pulled a pillow over her face. I went to the door and opened it an inch. Out in the damp courtyard the cobblestones shone. There was nobody there, and the lights in the main house were off. It was as though nothing had