Kat's Era by Amy Fawcett and Taran Chahal (read aloud books .TXT) 📕
Excerpt from the book:
Kat and Lily live in an orphanage in the future. On a school trip, their boat capsizes and they find themselves stranded on an island, with only their wits for survival.
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- Author: Amy Fawcett and Taran Chahal
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was normal. She sighed and checked her watch. She had three hours of observation to do, and if her notes weren’t up to standard, there would be punishment. Punishment was given out freely and often at The Institute for Unwanted Orphans.
The glass bottom was covered in algae, so much so that you couldn’t see anything else. Not that there would be anything to see. The sea was not blue or glittering – far from it, it was grey and sluggish, polluted by the amount of waste created in the Carbon Era. Not for the first time she decided that the people who had been living back then were stupid. They had known that what they were doing was killing the earth, but were too selfish and greedy to change there ways.
Kat wondered why she had been sent on the trip. It wasn’t like there was any marine life to study. Perhaps it was to reinforce the fact that the sea was too polluted to hold any life. She doubted it. They probably had something else in mind for them.
Kat and her friends dutifully pulled out their data-loggers and began to record the different types of algae and where it was growing. There was still some life, like the tiny creatures that lived off the algae, but they were too small to see with the naked eye.
As the students paced the floor, all recording identical results, Kat and Lily were conducting a silent conversation.
“Where?” mouthed Lily
“Over there!” pointed Kat “At first I thought it was just some of the students talking, but then I heard the guards”
Kat and Lily pretended to continue recording data and slowly moved towards the far corner. Kat pressed her data-logger against the wall, and began to record a conversation.
“Is it ready?” the Master demanded
“Of course, it will only need one small explosive to blow” was the answer.
“They’ll never know what has hit them!” the Master chuckled “set it off when they are eating tomorrow, and call for the helicopter, I will be needing to, shall we say … ‘go on a business trip’”
☯
Kat and Lily were forced to stop listening when a sudden silence fell. They smoothly resumed their data collection, as if nothing had happened.
At twenty-five minutes to eight, Kat and Lily ran down the stairs and through the twisting corridors, their feet flying over the threadbare and stained carpet; red and probably once grand.
They burst through the double doors to the dining room and stopped at once in front of the bodyguard, the Master was nowhere to be seen. Kat and Lily dropped to one knee and bowed their heads, they could feel all of their fellow students’ eyes burning into their backs.
“What time do you call this!?” barked the bodyguard, everybody started eating again, as if everything was normal. Anybody caught staring would be punished next.
He took out a gun and aimed at Kat, flicking off the safety. Kat expected her life to flash by, or something else, but all she felt was a little disappointment that she would die hungry.
Suddenly the boat tipped, throwing everyone off balance, Kat struggled to her feet. The bodyguard lay on the floor, a shard of glass protruding from his chest. Kat was dragged out of her shock by the screams. Water was gushing rapidly from a shattered window.
The boat tipped trapping them all inside. Lily looked over at Kat who was standing on a table, ripping tiles from the ceiling; there was a small hole, just big enough to be an escape route.
Kat pulled herself up, disappearing into the darkness above - or was it below? Their world had literally been turned upside down. A few seconds later her head appeared again.
“Hurry up Lily, snap out of it.”
Her friend’s harsh words did their work and soon Lily and Kat were climbing up and up, leading to the hull. They had worked fast, tearing through all of the floors, but the water had risen and was lapping at their ankles.
The tiles gave way to reveal metal, and they almost gave up, when a hand suddenly appeared by Lily’s head. She screamed. Kat spun round, eyes wide in panic. There was a shout, telling them to ‘come on up’. Kat wasted no time in grabbing the hand and was hauled up, into the cool evening air. She looked down and saw the water swirling around Lily’s waist. She snatched Lily’s wrist, and with a grunt pulled her up.
There were around six other children, none of which Kat or Lily recognised, so they must have been from sector 8. Three of them were girls and two of those were crying. A piece of metal hit her on the back of her head, the weight and the pain pushing her forwards into her friend. She turned round, furious.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” growled Kat, grabbing the boy’s collar.
She was hauled away by someone else.
“Fighting is NOT going to get us off this boat. I suggest you help or we’ll all drown,” said a calm voice. “Aleksy please help me up.”
Kat looked to the heavens, the purple-grey sky. There was no smog out here in the middle of some unknown ocean. And for the first time Kat could see stars. She nudged Lily, to make sure her friend didn’t miss it.
Meanwhile though, there was a fight breaking out between two of the boys.
“Who do you think you are!?” hissed Aleksy, giving the other boy a rough shove.
“Please stop wasting time”, the boy pleaded. “It really doesn’t matter.”
Aleksy lunged forwards aiming to get the other boy in a head lock but he twisted and Aleksy missed, the boy followed up with a few quick punches. But stopped suddenly. Aleksy was holding a girl in a choke hold.
“Nii-san!” the girl cried out.
The other boy stepped forwards cautiously “calm down Aleksy. This isn’t helping anyone - please let go of Kimi”
“Come any closer and she goes overboard!” Growled Aleksy.
A wave suddenly hit the boat, making Hitoshi stumble forwards. Aleksy pushed Kimi down the hole which they had all climbed through. Hitoshi yelled something Kat couldn’t make out and leapt towards the hole, just as Kat grabbed his ankle. He fell on his face and rolled onto his back and screamed.
“It’s dark; she won’t be able to get out!”
Kat dragged him up to his feet and shook him till he thought his brain would fall out.
“What do you think you’re doing?! There’s no point you dying as well! You’ve got to live for her too now”.
Twenty minutes later and they were all sitting on the underside of the ship. The boy, whose name appeared to be Hitoshi, was huddled on the edge with his knees drawn up to his chin. Kat got up and walked over.
“Who was Kimi? I hadn’t ever seen her before today, and if you’re both from sector 4 that’s unusual.”
“We only came a few weeks ago. Our mum died when we were ten and after we were living on the streets. We got picked up by the social services, and put in the Orphanage. When mum was sick, just before she died, I promised I would look after Kimi. After all even though we were – are – twins, I was the oldest.
“Oh” was all Kat could say.
☯
“The children are asleep, prepare to land.” The voice came over the intercom and echoed around the hangar.
The dozen red lights flickered blue in the darkness and suddenly the area was illuminated in a bright clinical light. The robots had awoken, and the pilot couldn’t help but feel nervous.
Thirty seconds later and the sides of the helicopter slid up to reveal twelve heavily armoured and armed robots - army issue - the new generation of soldiers. They stood at seven feet tall with a chest span of around a meter.
The soldiers dropped entering the water with smooth dives. Ten resurfaced and tied children to the ropes hanging off the helicopter, but two broke from the group to retrieve the body of the girl who had drowned earlier. She had a direct blood match with one of the survivors and that meant possible potential.
The Master had never been a religious man but he could only pray as he watched on the big screen in the parliament of education that she hadn’t already been eaten by the horrible stuff down there.
He waited patiently for what could only have been fifteen minutes before a green light started flashing on one of the control panels.
“Drone 11 has found something sir” one of the technicians stammered, in complete awe of the Masters aura of power.
The Master looked up from the sofa and sipped some champagne from the crystal glass in his hand, his beady little eyes fixed on the screen.
☯
In the cold water over fifteen hundred miles away from the warm operations room, drone 11 accelerated towards the girl emitting a flashing yellow light and high frequency bleeps and leaving an angry stream of bubbles behind itself. It reached out towards the girl and as metal and skin touched, the bleeping stopped. It grabbed her wrist and opened a communication link to the master.
“Mission 179845 complete. Returning to base.”
It propelled itself upward towards the shimmering moonlight, and burst out of the water catching the remaining rope hanging from the helicopter. The winch turned slowly and the girl and drone 11 were pulled up and into the belly.
The doctor was already giving various shots to the other survivors when drone 11 delivered the girl into the onboard first aid centre. Her seat was slightly different to the others. She was connected to a drip, similar to those in hospital in the carbon era. This was the only girl that the master was trying to keep alive.
Later, when Kimi had made a recovery, she was instructed by an interactive interface. She would guide the survivors to a weapons locker. She would not aid her brother. She would not reveal herself to anyone. All this was on pain of death, not only for herself and her brother, but for everyone else on the island as well.
☯
Kat forced her gritty eyes open, then puked up twice, a salty taste burning her throat. What had happened? Her mind creaked into action and she remembered the capsize of the boat. They had made it! Beside her, Lily was choking and there were a number of students also lying on the beach. She looked around. There was not a bodyguard or
The glass bottom was covered in algae, so much so that you couldn’t see anything else. Not that there would be anything to see. The sea was not blue or glittering – far from it, it was grey and sluggish, polluted by the amount of waste created in the Carbon Era. Not for the first time she decided that the people who had been living back then were stupid. They had known that what they were doing was killing the earth, but were too selfish and greedy to change there ways.
Kat wondered why she had been sent on the trip. It wasn’t like there was any marine life to study. Perhaps it was to reinforce the fact that the sea was too polluted to hold any life. She doubted it. They probably had something else in mind for them.
Kat and her friends dutifully pulled out their data-loggers and began to record the different types of algae and where it was growing. There was still some life, like the tiny creatures that lived off the algae, but they were too small to see with the naked eye.
As the students paced the floor, all recording identical results, Kat and Lily were conducting a silent conversation.
“Where?” mouthed Lily
“Over there!” pointed Kat “At first I thought it was just some of the students talking, but then I heard the guards”
Kat and Lily pretended to continue recording data and slowly moved towards the far corner. Kat pressed her data-logger against the wall, and began to record a conversation.
“Is it ready?” the Master demanded
“Of course, it will only need one small explosive to blow” was the answer.
“They’ll never know what has hit them!” the Master chuckled “set it off when they are eating tomorrow, and call for the helicopter, I will be needing to, shall we say … ‘go on a business trip’”
☯
Kat and Lily were forced to stop listening when a sudden silence fell. They smoothly resumed their data collection, as if nothing had happened.
At twenty-five minutes to eight, Kat and Lily ran down the stairs and through the twisting corridors, their feet flying over the threadbare and stained carpet; red and probably once grand.
They burst through the double doors to the dining room and stopped at once in front of the bodyguard, the Master was nowhere to be seen. Kat and Lily dropped to one knee and bowed their heads, they could feel all of their fellow students’ eyes burning into their backs.
“What time do you call this!?” barked the bodyguard, everybody started eating again, as if everything was normal. Anybody caught staring would be punished next.
He took out a gun and aimed at Kat, flicking off the safety. Kat expected her life to flash by, or something else, but all she felt was a little disappointment that she would die hungry.
Suddenly the boat tipped, throwing everyone off balance, Kat struggled to her feet. The bodyguard lay on the floor, a shard of glass protruding from his chest. Kat was dragged out of her shock by the screams. Water was gushing rapidly from a shattered window.
The boat tipped trapping them all inside. Lily looked over at Kat who was standing on a table, ripping tiles from the ceiling; there was a small hole, just big enough to be an escape route.
Kat pulled herself up, disappearing into the darkness above - or was it below? Their world had literally been turned upside down. A few seconds later her head appeared again.
“Hurry up Lily, snap out of it.”
Her friend’s harsh words did their work and soon Lily and Kat were climbing up and up, leading to the hull. They had worked fast, tearing through all of the floors, but the water had risen and was lapping at their ankles.
The tiles gave way to reveal metal, and they almost gave up, when a hand suddenly appeared by Lily’s head. She screamed. Kat spun round, eyes wide in panic. There was a shout, telling them to ‘come on up’. Kat wasted no time in grabbing the hand and was hauled up, into the cool evening air. She looked down and saw the water swirling around Lily’s waist. She snatched Lily’s wrist, and with a grunt pulled her up.
There were around six other children, none of which Kat or Lily recognised, so they must have been from sector 8. Three of them were girls and two of those were crying. A piece of metal hit her on the back of her head, the weight and the pain pushing her forwards into her friend. She turned round, furious.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” growled Kat, grabbing the boy’s collar.
She was hauled away by someone else.
“Fighting is NOT going to get us off this boat. I suggest you help or we’ll all drown,” said a calm voice. “Aleksy please help me up.”
Kat looked to the heavens, the purple-grey sky. There was no smog out here in the middle of some unknown ocean. And for the first time Kat could see stars. She nudged Lily, to make sure her friend didn’t miss it.
Meanwhile though, there was a fight breaking out between two of the boys.
“Who do you think you are!?” hissed Aleksy, giving the other boy a rough shove.
“Please stop wasting time”, the boy pleaded. “It really doesn’t matter.”
Aleksy lunged forwards aiming to get the other boy in a head lock but he twisted and Aleksy missed, the boy followed up with a few quick punches. But stopped suddenly. Aleksy was holding a girl in a choke hold.
“Nii-san!” the girl cried out.
The other boy stepped forwards cautiously “calm down Aleksy. This isn’t helping anyone - please let go of Kimi”
“Come any closer and she goes overboard!” Growled Aleksy.
A wave suddenly hit the boat, making Hitoshi stumble forwards. Aleksy pushed Kimi down the hole which they had all climbed through. Hitoshi yelled something Kat couldn’t make out and leapt towards the hole, just as Kat grabbed his ankle. He fell on his face and rolled onto his back and screamed.
“It’s dark; she won’t be able to get out!”
Kat dragged him up to his feet and shook him till he thought his brain would fall out.
“What do you think you’re doing?! There’s no point you dying as well! You’ve got to live for her too now”.
Twenty minutes later and they were all sitting on the underside of the ship. The boy, whose name appeared to be Hitoshi, was huddled on the edge with his knees drawn up to his chin. Kat got up and walked over.
“Who was Kimi? I hadn’t ever seen her before today, and if you’re both from sector 4 that’s unusual.”
“We only came a few weeks ago. Our mum died when we were ten and after we were living on the streets. We got picked up by the social services, and put in the Orphanage. When mum was sick, just before she died, I promised I would look after Kimi. After all even though we were – are – twins, I was the oldest.
“Oh” was all Kat could say.
☯
“The children are asleep, prepare to land.” The voice came over the intercom and echoed around the hangar.
The dozen red lights flickered blue in the darkness and suddenly the area was illuminated in a bright clinical light. The robots had awoken, and the pilot couldn’t help but feel nervous.
Thirty seconds later and the sides of the helicopter slid up to reveal twelve heavily armoured and armed robots - army issue - the new generation of soldiers. They stood at seven feet tall with a chest span of around a meter.
The soldiers dropped entering the water with smooth dives. Ten resurfaced and tied children to the ropes hanging off the helicopter, but two broke from the group to retrieve the body of the girl who had drowned earlier. She had a direct blood match with one of the survivors and that meant possible potential.
The Master had never been a religious man but he could only pray as he watched on the big screen in the parliament of education that she hadn’t already been eaten by the horrible stuff down there.
He waited patiently for what could only have been fifteen minutes before a green light started flashing on one of the control panels.
“Drone 11 has found something sir” one of the technicians stammered, in complete awe of the Masters aura of power.
The Master looked up from the sofa and sipped some champagne from the crystal glass in his hand, his beady little eyes fixed on the screen.
☯
In the cold water over fifteen hundred miles away from the warm operations room, drone 11 accelerated towards the girl emitting a flashing yellow light and high frequency bleeps and leaving an angry stream of bubbles behind itself. It reached out towards the girl and as metal and skin touched, the bleeping stopped. It grabbed her wrist and opened a communication link to the master.
“Mission 179845 complete. Returning to base.”
It propelled itself upward towards the shimmering moonlight, and burst out of the water catching the remaining rope hanging from the helicopter. The winch turned slowly and the girl and drone 11 were pulled up and into the belly.
The doctor was already giving various shots to the other survivors when drone 11 delivered the girl into the onboard first aid centre. Her seat was slightly different to the others. She was connected to a drip, similar to those in hospital in the carbon era. This was the only girl that the master was trying to keep alive.
Later, when Kimi had made a recovery, she was instructed by an interactive interface. She would guide the survivors to a weapons locker. She would not aid her brother. She would not reveal herself to anyone. All this was on pain of death, not only for herself and her brother, but for everyone else on the island as well.
☯
Kat forced her gritty eyes open, then puked up twice, a salty taste burning her throat. What had happened? Her mind creaked into action and she remembered the capsize of the boat. They had made it! Beside her, Lily was choking and there were a number of students also lying on the beach. She looked around. There was not a bodyguard or
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