potent weapon. Ms Apple placed the tray on the small table by the window and looked at Lynn.
“Tea, dear?” she asked.
Lynn didn’t reply.
“I’ll pour you one. You might feel like it later.”
Ms Apple placed the cup and saucer down on the bedside table and dragged one of the chairs from the table closer to the bed. She sat and sipped from her own cup.
“Lynnette,” Ms Apple said, “the Administrator sends his condolences. He said he would very much like to see you, perhaps for dinner tonight?”
Lynn sighed. Her eyes moved from the blue sky outside to Ms Apple’s face, searching it for a moment before moving back to the clouds.
Ms Apple reached out and put her hand on Lynn’s shoulder. “It will get better, dear, I promise. After my husband died I thought I would never feel anything again, but time does heal the wounds, if not completely, then enough that you can face the world again.”
Lynn’s eyes flicked again to her teacher’s face for the smallest of moments.
“Lynn, you must come out of your room eventually.”
“Before Father di—” Lynn’s words caught in her throat as though after two days of silence she had forgotten how to speak. “He told me I should be whatever I want to be.”
Ms Apple put her hand under Lynn’s chin and gently turned her face until Lynn found herself looking into her eyes. The lines around them were deep and numerous, easily betraying the lady’s age, but they still burned with a fierce youthful love. Lynn had once thought the crow’s feet edging Ms Apple’s eyes were horrid and ugly, but she couldn’t see that now.
“You are the strongest girl I have ever known,” Ms Apple said. “You will be fine.”
Lynn took a moment to strengthen her resolve and then asked the question that had been running through her mind for two days. “Who did this, Ms Apple? Who killed him?”
Ms Apple sighed. “We don’t know. The Diggers have begun an investigation.”
“This is my fault.”
“What?” Ms Apple said sharply, then lowered her voice to a calmer tone. “Lynnette, my dear, what gives you that idea?”
“I started trouble with the Holy Order. I got him in trouble with them.”
“No,” Ms Apple said. “No, child. This isn’t your fault, don’t think that at all. Your father was a powerful man. His death was not your fault.”
Lynn sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I don’t think I want to go and see the Administrator tonight.”
Ms Apple sighed.
“I’ve been told, my dear, that tonight’s invitation for you to see the Administrator is not optional.”
CHAPTER 14
Lynn walked through the double wooden doors into the Council Room of Government House accompanied by Ms Apple. This was the seat of the Council of the Central Territory. The room was not what Lynn expected. It was more a hall than a room, and it was the most splendidly decorated place she had ever seen. Long flowing banners hung from the high arched roof. The sides of the hall were lined with tiered bench seats, all empty. The walls were adorned with scattered paintings, suits of armor and relics of the time before the Reckoning, antiques so obscure that only the engineers might know what they were for. The main feature of the decoration was in the center of the hall. Up in the rafters, positioned on a suspended platform, was a pre-Reckoning automobile, a type of small truck, Lynn thought, with a tray on the back. It was blue, or at least it had been, once. The body was dull and faded now, patched with brown rust. The platform the vehicle rested on bore a large golden plaque that read: “Ute of Steven, First Administrator and Prophet of God.”
Beneath the precariously positioned relic was a table. As they passed Lynn couldn’t help but notice the spot where her father would have sat. The name plate on the seat marked for the Chief Military Advisor had already been replaced with a new one reading “Colonel Jack Woomera.” At the head of the table was the Rock
“Tea, dear?” she asked.
Lynn didn’t reply.
“I’ll pour you one. You might feel like it later.”
Ms Apple placed the cup and saucer down on the bedside table and dragged one of the chairs from the table closer to the bed. She sat and sipped from her own cup.
“Lynnette,” Ms Apple said, “the Administrator sends his condolences. He said he would very much like to see you, perhaps for dinner tonight?”
Lynn sighed. Her eyes moved from the blue sky outside to Ms Apple’s face, searching it for a moment before moving back to the clouds.
Ms Apple reached out and put her hand on Lynn’s shoulder. “It will get better, dear, I promise. After my husband died I thought I would never feel anything again, but time does heal the wounds, if not completely, then enough that you can face the world again.”
Lynn’s eyes flicked again to her teacher’s face for the smallest of moments.
“Lynn, you must come out of your room eventually.”
“Before Father di—” Lynn’s words caught in her throat as though after two days of silence she had forgotten how to speak. “He told me I should be whatever I want to be.”
Ms Apple put her hand under Lynn’s chin and gently turned her face until Lynn found herself looking into her eyes. The lines around them were deep and numerous, easily betraying the lady’s age, but they still burned with a fierce youthful love. Lynn had once thought the crow’s feet edging Ms Apple’s eyes were horrid and ugly, but she couldn’t see that now.
“You are the strongest girl I have ever known,” Ms Apple said. “You will be fine.”
Lynn took a moment to strengthen her resolve and then asked the question that had been running through her mind for two days. “Who did this, Ms Apple? Who killed him?”
Ms Apple sighed. “We don’t know. The Diggers have begun an investigation.”
“This is my fault.”
“What?” Ms Apple said sharply, then lowered her voice to a calmer tone. “Lynnette, my dear, what gives you that idea?”
“I started trouble with the Holy Order. I got him in trouble with them.”
“No,” Ms Apple said. “No, child. This isn’t your fault, don’t think that at all. Your father was a powerful man. His death was not your fault.”
Lynn sniffed and wiped the tears from her eyes. “I don’t think I want to go and see the Administrator tonight.”
Ms Apple sighed.
“I’ve been told, my dear, that tonight’s invitation for you to see the Administrator is not optional.”
CHAPTER 14
Lynn walked through the double wooden doors into the Council Room of Government House accompanied by Ms Apple. This was the seat of the Council of the Central Territory. The room was not what Lynn expected. It was more a hall than a room, and it was the most splendidly decorated place she had ever seen. Long flowing banners hung from the high arched roof. The sides of the hall were lined with tiered bench seats, all empty. The walls were adorned with scattered paintings, suits of armor and relics of the time before the Reckoning, antiques so obscure that only the engineers might know what they were for. The main feature of the decoration was in the center of the hall. Up in the rafters, positioned on a suspended platform, was a pre-Reckoning automobile, a type of small truck, Lynn thought, with a tray on the back. It was blue, or at least it had been, once. The body was dull and faded now, patched with brown rust. The platform the vehicle rested on bore a large golden plaque that read: “Ute of Steven, First Administrator and Prophet of God.”
Beneath the precariously positioned relic was a table. As they passed Lynn couldn’t help but notice the spot where her father would have sat. The name plate on the seat marked for the Chief Military Advisor had already been replaced with a new one reading “Colonel Jack Woomera.” At the head of the table was the Rock
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