Chapter One

Toby trudged through the sparkling streets of the city, pausing for a moment to catch his breath and adjust the fastening on his jacket.

Perhaps it would have been easier to zip, or even just to catch a lift, but when it came to annoying his uncle, he knew exactly what would do the job best, and nothing aggravated his mother’s brother more than wasting the use of technology. So, of course, Toby did all he could to be completely devoid of tech whenever he saw him. Which wasn’t, in fact, very often at all.

Maybe two or three times a year he would sit silently in his uncle’s company and listen to his only living relative lecture him on the latest advances in his company’s research, or the value of said company’s shares. And no matter how much Toby stared at his uncle’s bearded face and dark cunning features, no matter how much all his classmates at school told him they admired his uncle’s amazing success story, Toby found himself unable to conjure any similar feelings.

But now he’d received an invitation, and it wasn’t his birthday or a national holiday, and of course he shouldn’t ever really turn down a request from his wealthy and successful uncle. So here he was: walking, of all things, towards the nice part of the city where he tried to spend as little time as possible. He knew that his uncle laughed at him for staying at that school in that quad of the city.

“Let me send you to Beaumont, for God’s sake. Or at least St Martin’s. Stop being such a martyr, Toby, it’s your education that you’re wasting. Cathair’s is such a dive.”

But Toby had repeatedly declined his uncle’s offers, his refusals becoming increasingly more forceful. He’d been going to Cathair’s comprehensive since he was five years old and he wasn’t about to abandon it just because his uncle could now afford to send him to a fancy private school where the tech was so advanced it was said that the kids no longer needed to lift a finger. It wasn’t even as if his school was bad anyway; they’d looked after him well enough and Toby couldn’t find much reason to complain. A sense of loyalty kept him there, and seeing as he only had a few more months before he was of leaving age, he doubted that his uncle would bring it up on this occasion.

As the scenery gradually became cleaner and more metallic, and the monstrous sky-scraping high-rise buildings gave way to clinical rows of low-rise houses, Toby found his feet slowing. He really did not want to face his uncle. Not today. The thought of having to look upon his mother’s dark eyes, of seeing his parents’ pictures dotted around the house; the thought of his uncle casually dropping her name into conversation as if nothing had ever happened. It made him want to turn right back around and run until the streets were dirty again and he was out of breath.

There was the smallest part of him he had to admit, however, that was intrigued by such an urgent request. And, of course, he would never turn down another opportunity to irritate his uncle. Whatever it was that he wanted from him, whatever it was he wanted him to do, Toby would make sure to do everything in his power not to do it. He’d spent the last seven years seething. Maybe now was the time to do something.

Or rather, to do nothing.        

He slowed his pace a little, the immaculate set of steps before him signifying that he had arrived at his destination. His footsteps clattering a pattern of annoyance and discontent, he climbed to the front door of his uncle’s house and paused outside. A small keypad to his right flashed obnoxiously and asked him to provide a fingerprint, retina scan, or DNA sample to affirm his identification. Toby didn’t even glance at it. He banged his fist loudly against the steel door and took a step back.

His uncle’s voice sounded almost immediately from the concealed speaker. “I haven’t got time for your games today, Toby. Let yourself in and come to my study.”

Toby paused for a second before shaking his head and reluctantly pressing his index finger against the keypad which whirred and then flashed green. He wasn’t even inside the front door and he was already having to take calming breaths.

Just see what he wants, he told himself as the door slid open before him. See what he wants and then leave. You don’t have to do anything. You owe him nothing. It was the mantra imprinted in his mind, running as deep as the hatred.

I owe him nothing.

He took another deep breath, forcibly subduing his pulse, and stepped inside his uncle’s house.

The door behind him had barely slid close with a satisfying hiss, before he was besieged by a matronly old lady clucking around him like a mother hen, her ancient fingers tugging at his hair and straining to pat his shoulders. From her mouth emitted a stream of comments.

“Oh my, how you’ve grown! You must stop growing, my boy. I swear every time I see you you’re even taller, if that were even possible. What do they feed you at that school of yours? I swear I’ll never know. I remember when you were just a twinkle in your mother’s eyes, bless her, and now look at you! Standing here with your head nearly grazing the ceiling and with those handsome dark eyes of hers. I’m sure the ladies must be chasing you with all they’ve got, eh? If only I were a century or two younger,” and she winked conspiratorially at him.

“Hi, Mauve,” Toby said tiredly, trying to withhold a sigh of exasperation.

“Hi, Mauve,” she mimicked, suddenly cross. “You don’t see me for six months and that’s all I get? I could be dead for all you care. I could have dropped off this planet and you wouldn’t have even come to say goodbye. You never visit me anymore, and it’s ever so lonely.” Her voice softened and her eyes wilted. “Your uncle is such a busy man. So clever,” and Toby had to exert every last bit of strength to prevent himself from rolling his eyes. “But ever so busy. He’s been in his study for days now, I’ve hardly seen him. And of course he has all the tech he needs in there so there’s no need for old Mauve anymore, is there? I’m not going to be around forever, you know. You best tell him that,” she said as she shushed him up the stairs, swatting away the various pieces of tech which flashed and beeped from alcoves in the wall, all trying desperately to offer their services. “Oh go away,” she said to them angrily.

Feeling suddenly sorry for this old woman who had been in his uncle’s service for as long as he could remember, Toby turned around and gave Mauve a small smile. He hadn’t realised how old she looked. The skin on her face was sagging off in large droops. Her eye sockets were grey, hollowed out by the inevitable passage of time, and her eyes were shining with an earthly weariness. She moved in a slow, shuffling motion, her back crooked and her limbs jutting out at unnatural angles. Tech could do marvellous things, no doubt. But sometimes it was kinder just to let someone die.

“How old are you, Mauve?” Toby asked, suddenly curious.

“One hundred and eighty-two this year,” Mauve said haughtily. “And don’t you forget it,” and she pushed him into his uncle’s study with a surprisingly forceful jerk.

The room was large and Toby, who had only been in it once or twice before, did not remember it appearing so vast and so glistening.

“There you are, Toby,” his uncle greeted him briskly, his hands tapping away at a series of holograms and buttons inlaid into the large circular table before him, his eyes barely glancing up to acknowledge his only nephew. The hologram of a map disappeared from the centre of the table where it had been suspended, rotating slowly and mechanically, and Toby blinked as the bright room became suddenly dark. A dim lighting scheme was almost immediately initiated to counter the effect.

There was a moment’s silence in which Toby felt four pairs of eyes upon him and recognised only two. He stood awkwardly, staring defiantly back into the dark ones of his uncle which he had been told on too many occasions matched his own. The difference was, he hoped, that when people looked into his own eyes, they could find a shred of humanity.

But then the moment was over and his uncle was talking, as he always did, in that tone of self- assurance and ease. “You’ve met John before, haven’t you Toby?” and he nodded to the equally self-assured man on his right who Toby recognised as his company’s co-founder and business partner. John nodded at him curtly and Toby inclined his head in return.

“And this is Mr Pontreau,” said his uncle, clapping his hand on the back of the man to his left; a small, shrewish man who nodded also. “Mr Pontreau is from the government. And that, my dearest nephew, is Taurus,” and he gestured at the enormous black man sitting opposite him.

Toby widened his eyes in surprise at his size, but Taurus gave a friendly enough wave in acknowledgement and Toby tried not to write him off just yet out of association.

“Right,” said his uncle, standing up and clapping his hands together. “Pleasantries are over; it’s time to get down to business.”

Toby stayed where he was standing, thinking hard, saying nothing. He allowed his uncle to indulge himself in one of his favourite past times: soliloquising.

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I invited you here today. Our meetings are never, shall I say, enjoyable, but I do like to give you every opportunity to shoot daggers at me when you think I’m not looking.” He grinned at this and gave John a little nudge as he strode past. “Look, he’s doing it now.” John gave a small insincere smile.

“Anyway. Enough with the chit-chat. Today, I want you to be serious. Today, I want you to listen. Because this is important, Toby, do you hear me? This could change your life. I don’t want your accusations, or your sulking today. Because I have put my trust in you.” And he was standing by Toby, touching him on the arm - Toby tried not to recoil - and guiding him into the seat between Taurus and John.

“Today you are going to listen. And when you’ve finished listening, you’re going to thank me. Because this is big, Toby. This is very big.”

Toby said nothing, watching the blank space where the map had been floating.

“Right, Henry, you’re up,” his uncle said loudly, gesturing to the small man, Mr Pontreau, who stood up importantly. “Remember what I said, Toby. Listen. Do not say a word.” He sat back down in his seat and cast his gaze intently upon Pontreau.

“Right,” Pontreau said nervously, twitching a little. He was a thin man, balding ever so slightly on his crown, his unmanicured and chewed nails clutching a tablet to his chest as if it were a security blanket.

“Well, this is very exciting, Toby,” he said, clearing his throat with a cough. “And we have only your uncle to be grateful to. And of course John.” And he nodded enthusiastically at the two business partners who were sitting contentedly back in their reclining chairs.

“What I’m about to tell you is-” he paused. “Not exactly classified. In fact, it’s on the curriculum for all state schools. You go to a state school, don’t you?” Toby nodded warily, ignoring the eye roll of his uncle. “Yes, well it’s on the curriculum and we pride ourselves in giving our children all the important information they need to know about everything. You may remember it, most don’t. I think it’s Year Five that it’s on the agenda,” he checked his tablet, and nodded, “Yes, yes, Year Five it says here. Year Five is where it’s mentioned.”

Questions were already bursting into his mind, but Toby kept his lips closed as Pontreau looked at him earnestly and read the confusion on his face.

“The Believers,” he said simply. “Toby, the Believers.”

And in the large room in his uncle’s large house, Toby strained his memory all the way back to Year Five when he must have been, what was it - nine? ten? He tried to recall any mention of something called ‘The Believers’ but nothing resurfaced. He was none the wiser. Mr Pontreau had been watching him closely, searching for any signs of recognition. When Toby mutely shook his head, he nodded and said, “Yes, well, nobody does really remember, you see. We put it on the curriculum just so we can’t be blamed, legally, if you don’t know. And of course, you don’t really.”

He looked to Toby’s uncle, “If you could just- Yes, that’s perfect thank you,” as he tapped some buttons to operate the hologram.

“If you could look at this map,” he said as a large diagram appeared. It was an island, longer than it was wider, with some parts jutting out and other parts drawing in. It was their island. In the most north-eastern rocky area, a thick circular symbol appeared.

“This is where the Believers live, Toby. They are a small community of people who still Believe in a deity. In fact, they are the only group of people on this entire planet who still Believe.”

He waited for Toby to react but Toby wouldn’t let any emotions cloud his expression. He felt as if this were a test, and for some strange reason he had decided that he needed to pass.

“They live a simple life,” Pontreau continued. “So simple, in fact, that they live entirely without Tech.”

At this, Toby couldn’t help it: his glance turned automatically to his uncle’s in surprise. His uncle had been observing him closely and gave him the tiniest of smiles.

“Carry on,” Toby said to Pontreau, not wanting to give his uncle the satisfaction of appearing shocked at the news. Inside, however, he was rustling with the idea.

“Thank you, Toby,” Pontreau said. “You may be wondering where your uncle and John come into this, and especially where you come into this, because you do. Come into this, I mean. You see, the government has seen it in their best interests to research the ways of the Believers. To travel, for the first time, into their community and to breach contact. For a long time we’ve let them be, let them exist peacefully. But we are living in the age of tech and discovery. In fact, we’ve lived in this age for years now. We know more than ever about what lies above us,” and he pointed upwards, insinuating the skies and the stars, “and what lies beneath,” and he pointed downwards, insinuating the rocks and the seas.

“And frankly we can’t just allow these people sharing the same land as us to live without knowing anything about them, and without them knowing anything about us. For if there’s one thing we’re sure of, it’s that they know nothing of us. It is our duty as citizens of this country, citizens of this world even, to meet them, to contact them, and perhaps even to educate them. I mean-,” and here he looked around at the other men at the table. “If they’re stupid enough to Believe, then they’re going to need some form of education, aren’t they?” and he chuckled to himself at the preposterousness of Believing.  

“But why?” Toby couldn’t help but interject. As surprised as he was by the existence of these people, he couldn’t help but wonder what this urgent need was to go and interfere with their lives.

Pontreau gave a little laugh. “My dear boy, we can hardly expect to call ourselves a people of information and knowledge if there are people living at our borders who we know nothing about. It is human nature - isn’t it? - curiosity. I doubt we would be fit to call ourselves human beings if we didn’t wonder about these strange people. Whilst we are living our lives, Toby, there are people out there with an entirely different Belief system, Believing things which can’t possibly be true, praying to someone who can’t possibly exist. Doesn’t that make you just the tiniest bit curious? Doesn’t that make you want to march right up to them and show them what they’ve been missing? Ask them questions, try to understand how people, made out of the same flesh and blood and bone, could be so different?”

“Not really,” Toby admitted.        

His uncle gave a snort of amusement. Toby ignored him.

Pontreau coughed nervously after his impassioned speech and said, “Well, I think you’ll have to muster up the enthusiasm, Toby, because your uncle here has saved you a spot on the mission,” and Toby nearly choked in surprise.

“What?”        

“He, erm, highly recommended you in fact. And, of course, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, think of where this could lead you-” Pontreau had begun saying, but Toby wasn’t hearing a word.

My uncle has saved me a spot on a mission to the other side of the country to try and talk to a bunch of people who have no tech and who worship some invisible thing.

There was too much to compute, too much to understand. And he just couldn’t comprehend why his uncle thought he would do this. Of course there is no way I will do this.

 “-and Taurus here is from the Special Forces and will be heading up the mission, he has it all organised-”

“I’m not doing it,” Toby objected loudly, cutting Pontreau off mid-sentence. “I won’t be some pawn in your game,” and he nodded coldly to his uncle, “Or in the government’s, for that matter.”

Pontreau’s face fell comically. “We, er, really didn’t anticipate your refusal,” he said, nervously tapping away at the tablet still gripped tightly beneath his fingers. “I mean, this is an official government mission you are a part of here, it really is a once in a lifetime opportunity. If you perform well, it could affect your entire future – your career, Toby! I’ve arranged it all with your school so that this extra-curricular activity could count towards your final grades, and seeing as-” He glanced down at the screen illuminating his chin. “Yes, seeing as you’re well above national average, anyway, I’ve arranged it so that this mission means you don’t have to go back to school now. You complete this mission and then that’s it, you can leave school. You’re finished.”

Toby’s heart fell.

“But I like school,” he said, acutely aware of how pitiful it sounded.

“Yes, yes,” his uncle interjected briskly. “You’re very clever. You’ve got my sister’s brains, we all know that.”

“Don’t you dare mention her,” Toby growled, standing up and kicking back his chair in anger. “You do not get to talk about her. Ever. I am not going to be part of some mission which you are funding. You can buy the government, you can buy the Forces,” and he gestured angrily towards Pontreau who was still flapping away, and Taurus who was watching him steadily. “You can buy the whole damn planet, but you cannot buy me.”

He looked towards his uncle, expecting some sort of angry reaction, willing him to give him the chance to jump across the table and punch his stupid clever face. But his uncle just continued to smirk at him, calmly holding his gaze.

“Now, look here, Toby-” Pontreau began, but he was interrupted by Taurus who turned to him and put one of his huge hands on his shoulder.

He spoke slowly and calmly and there was authority in his voice.

“Look, as far as I see it, my friend, you have no choice in the matter. You want to finish school, don’t you? Get your qualifications?” And Toby could only nod dumbly as he thought of all the exams he had been diligently revising for, the essays he had not yet completed, all of which would have been for nothing.

“Then,” Taurus continued, “I’m afraid that, like it or not, you are going. I’m sure that I don’t have to tell you how much of an honour it is to have been selected for this mission, and now it’s your job to make the best of it. Under my watch, there will be no complaining, no moaning and no skiving just because you’re your uncle’s nephew.” He looked up to the man still smiling forcibly across the table, and then looked back into Toby’s burning eyes. “But now that I’ve met you both together, I can see that that won’t be so much of a problem.”

Toby heard his uncle laugh, and he frowned.

“He said the same thing to Sarah,” John spoke for the first time from across the table. “But she actually looked disappointed. I hope this mission will teach her a thing or two about being an influential man’s daughter.”

Toby sighed and bowed his head in defeat. Sarah was coming too? The news, if possible, made him want to go even less.

“And another thing,” Taurus spoke up once more. “Your uncle has kindly funded this mission, and is playing a very important role in the operation of it-”

“Is he going?” Toby interjected loudly, looking up quickly. “Because if he is, I’m not.”

“Don’t be foolish, Toby,” his uncle said. “I can’t leave here, I’m far too important. I’m working behind the scenes to ensure that everything runs smoothly and that the best possible outcome is achieved.”

“And what is the best possible outcome?” Toby asked.

The men all looked at each other, exchanging glances which were clearly all questioning how much they should tell this boy before them.

It was Pontreau who spoke first, his voice superficially light. “There are a whole host of possible outcomes, Toby. And we just want to ensure that we achieve a peaceful one.”

It hadn’t answered Toby’s question but they were all pretending that it had. He looked across at Taurus who said, “As I was saying, Toby. Your uncle has funded this mission, but that does not mean, on any level, that he has bought the Forces, or the government for that matter.”

He looked disapprovingly down at him. “I find it highly offensive to suggest that these national institutes can be bought, as it were. Surely you have more faith in us than that?”

Toby tried not to look too meek, as he muttered, “Well, I guess I’m going to have to take your word for it.”

Taurus laughed a hearty laugh, as if he were genuinely amused. “Yes. I suppose you are.”

“Right,” Toby’s uncle said, stretching languidly in his chair like a satisfied cat, and checking his wristcom. “That about wraps it up for now.” He picked something up from the table and threw it across to Toby who caught it deftly. He looked down at the hologram holder in his hand. “This has everything you need to know on it. Anything else to say?” he asked, looking around at the others. John remained motionless. Pontreau was busy packing away his things and wiping the sweat from his brow.

“We leave in two days,” Taurus said quietly.

Toby just nodded. What else could he do? He was past shock, past anger, floating into this strange kind of limbo where he felt nothing.

“Can I go now?” He needed to go home and lie down.

Home. He thought of the small room in the dormitories of his school where he had lived since his parents’ deaths, and which it seemed wouldn’t be his home for much longer. His heart ached just a little.

Screw walking, I’m finding the nearest zip station and getting into bed. My head hurts.

“I’ll escort you out,” his uncle said, standing up and walking to the door with Toby.

“I’ll see you on Thursday,” Taurus called as the door swished open and Toby exited the study.

They walked in silence down the stairs towards the front door, Toby’s head too full to attempt any form of communication with his uncle. As the door opened and Toby stepped outside, he turned around one last time to look at the man who stood there, still smiling, as if all the world were merely a button on his coat.

There was a moment’s silence between them.

“You can thank me when you return,” his uncle said.

Toby looked at him one more time, trying to etch that smirk into his mind, so that when he was really angry, he’d have something to focus his hatred upon. And then, without a word, he turned on his heels and walked down the street. He didn’t look back, but he felt his uncle’s eyes on him the whole way to the zip station.