Tunnels 04, Closer

they called us the Wunderkinder ," he said, closing his eyes for a moment. "We lived together in the same digs, but we spent virtually all our time at the university -- the faculty gave us free rein... anything we asked for... the run of the labs. They didn't interfere with our various research projects, as the university would eventually benefit from what we were doing."
    "In optoelectronics?" Eddie asked.
    "That was my field, yes. Luke was the mathematician and Fiona the software whiz kid, and we complemented each other perfectly. But out of the three of us, Fiona was the genius -- she could generate code like no one else. And in the second year, she wrote a piece of software that assimilated news events, and employed unique algorithms to analyze them. Once the business community and the security services got wind of what she was up to, they all tried to headhunt her. The all wanted the program, at any cost. But she held out and kept working on the project. And once the program had absorbed sufficient data and hit critical mass, it worked better than she'd ever imagined. But she began to find something strange... something anomalous. It began to red-flag events that didn't quite seem to fit. Patterns of events that were inconsistent, even with random-walk theory." Drake slid his hands lower on the steering wheel. "And I expect you can guess why?"
    "It was us -- the Styx." These red-flags were our interventions?" Eddie said.
    "You got it," Drake answered. "And in the final week before graduation, she said goodbye to Luke and me in the morning and -- as she always did -- pedaled off for the university lab. That was the last time we saw her -- they never found her or her bicycle. And nobody could explain how all her work vanished along with her -- her laptop, the back-up disks she kept in her room, and everything on the university network. Anything even vaguely related to the program simply disappeared, without trace." Drake swallowed. "Then my friend had a nervous breakdown."
    "You're talking about Lukey?" Eddie said.
    "Yes, he was one of those incredibly bright but highly strung young things -- he went to pieces after Fiona disappeared. Dropped out of university and went back to live with his mother. He'd drunk himself to death within a year." Only now did Drake turn to face Eddie. "For all I know, you were on the snatch squad. You might have been one of the Limiters who took Fiona."
    Eddie shook his head slowly; as usual his expression didn't give any clue as to what he was thinking. "No, and I don't know what I can say. I can ask for forgiveness for the actions of my people, but that would be meaningless to you, wouldn't it?"
    "Completely," Drake muttered, turning the key in the ignition. Then he steered the car back around and onto its original course.

    * * * * *

    The door to my room is shut and my dressing gown hangs on the back -- it's dark blue and so thick it feels like I'm wearing a piece of carpet, but it's really warm. Mum bought it for me before Christmas because my old one was getting too small . Chester moved his head slightly. There, next to the door... the posters on my wall... yes, I can see them... all where they should be. I know them so well because sometimes when I can't sleep, I lie on my bed and just look at them. The forest scene with the pine trees is my favorite. Some of them are a bit crooked on the wall because I put them up when I was little -- I've had most of them for as long as I can remember, and I've been thinking of getting some new ones . Chester turned his head a little more. And, yes, there's the Anglepoise light that Dad gave me -- it's painted orange -- his dad gave it to him, but it was black then and very chipped, so his Dad painted it orange when he was about my age. I can see where he put too much paint on the base and it ran a bit, but I don't care because it was my dad's and I like the way the springs make the light stay wherever you move it. Sometimes, when I half close my eyes, the shade looks like the Apollo space capsule -- I watched a brilliant program about the Apollo moon landings on a Sky channel once . Chester put his head completely on its side, and smiled. Ah, yes, there are my books . All the different colors of the spines. I love my books and I never lend them to anyone in case they mess up the covers. I've read most of them more than once. I always want to get the whole series and I always always make sure I keep them in the right ord --
    "Food for you, my