Life Goes On by Tayell, Frank (large ebook reader txt) 📗

bite. “This is good cake. How come there’s cake to spare? Is Owen snaffling food for his own use?”

“Probably,” Bianca said. “But Ms Nguyen said there was an excess of eggs, and an insufficiency of packaging to distribute them to the refugee camps. A brewery over in Fyshwick has been converted to a drying facility to make powdered eggs.”

“You can do that with a brewery?” Tess asked.

“The brewery is close to the railway line,” Mick said. “The eggs are being rolled in, cracked open, and the empty cases stuck back on the train and returned to the farm. Trouble is, they’ve now got an excess of powdered egg and nowhere to store it. Since the trains are busy carting the eggs back and forth, they can’t use them to ship out the flour or sugar that came in last week. Since there’s a bakery next to the brewery, Oswald decreed everyone should have their cake and eat it.”

“I bet he did,” Tess said. “Sounds like we’ve a transportation problem. Are there no trucks?”

“Not enough fuel tankers,” Mick said. “Lost a few with the flooding. The rest are running to the refinery in convoy in case of zoms, but someone didn’t take into account that’s slower than letting them travel individually. Give it a few days, and it’ll all be ironed out. But until then, we’ve got cake.”

“It’s a good problem to have,” Tess said. “And it’s good news for all of you. The investigation is over. One day, you’ll all get a medal. I’m serious. Thank you. Tomorrow, I’m heading to Perth with Bruce Hawker and the scientists. We’re picking up some U.S. Rangers there for help in following up that lead Malcolm Baker gave us. You are being reassigned. Mick, to you falls the duty no father can escape. You’ll be flying your daughter around for the next couple of weeks while she tours the refugee camps. The rest of you are going with Anna to help with the admin.”

“We’re not in the police anymore?” Zach asked.

“It’ll be a while before justice is back on the agenda,” Tess said. “Restoring order comes first. I don’t want you lot in uniform. I want people to see the politician pushed around by the bloke with the guitar, surrounded by civilians with clipboards and pens rather than rifles and body-armour. You’re public servants, or journalists, if you like. It’ll look bureaucratic not dictatorial, implying the focus is on restoring normality, and so it’s worth putting up with discomfort and long hours for a little while longer.”

“We’ll need new clothes,” Bianca said. “We could get them from my house.”

“I thought you lived in Adelaide,” Tess said.

“We kept a house here in the city,” Bianca said. “Cameron, my husband, is a lobbyist. Or he was.”

“He’s passed?” Elaina asked.

“No, but I don’t think there’s much call for lobbying anymore,” Bianca said.

“Here’s hoping,” Tess said. “So you’ve got clothes there?”

“D’you mean ball gowns?” Elaina asked.

“Yes, but I have some more practical pieces, too,” Bianca said. “Some of my husband’s suits would fit Clyde and Dr Dodson. My son’s should fit Zach.”

“Your son has suits?” Zach asked, his face strained in puzzlement. “There’s a lot of money in baking, then?”

“Anna wants to leave first thing in the morning,” Tess said, finishing her cake. “This sounds like the best idea. I’ll go with you, Bianca. Elaina, you can help carry. Everyone else, back to the airport. Mick, I’ll need a pilot and plane to take us to Perth as soon as Leo, Dr Avalon, and Colonel Hawker turn up.”

“You better drive, Bianca,” Tess said, climbing into the passenger seat.

“Perfect,” Elaina said, getting into the back. “I could do with a rest.”

“How are you doing?” Tess asked as Bianca started the engine.

“Badly,” Elaina said bluntly. “But we all are. It’s too much trauma all in one go. But what can we do but pretend tomorrow won’t be as bad as today? Hey, maybe it will be.”

“Touring refugee camps is going to be a different kind of horror,” Tess said. “If you like, I can get you work at the airport.”

“No, we’ve all got to do our part,” Elaina said. “But it’s good to have a bit of a whinge. Do you know where you’re going, Bee?”

“Mugga Way in Red Hill,” Bianca said.

“But do you know the way?” Elaina asked. “Because you’re driving us back towards Parliament House.”

“Sorry. Should have turned left,” Bianca said, pulling a pi-point turn.

“Did you spend much time in Canberra?” Tess asked.

“Me? No,” Bianca said. “We came here just after the outbreak. Cam reasoned the capital would be better defended than elsewhere, while his contacts would ensure a better quality of life. I… well, I disagreed, so he told me to stay behind. But Ron wanted to go with his father. He always does. When the conscription van arrived, Cam said we were exempt, so I volunteered.”

“Not a happy marriage, then?” Tess asked.

“It was over sixteen years ago. Just after our son was born,” she said. “But Cam said we were staying together for the look of it, then for our son.”

“He said?” Elaina asked. “He told you?”

“There’s a pre-nup,” Bianca said. She touched the necklace around her throat. “But it doesn’t include my personal jewellery.”

“Smart girl,” Elaina said.

“Fifteen million dollars in gems,” Bianca said.

“How much?” Elaina said.

“But how much are they worth today?” Bianca said. “So I might as well wear them.”

“Wear them and hope they’re worth something again sometime soon,” Elaina said. “They should be, shouldn’t they, Commissioner? If things are getting back to normal.”

“I never understood why colourful bits of rock were so valuable in the gone-before,” Tess said, “so who knows what they’ll be worth in the coming-soon?”

“This is it? Honestly, Bee, I was expecting something bigger,” Elaina said, when Bianca rolled