Chapter 6 – Progeny and Secrecy
JACQUI WAS startled. "Pregnant!" she exclaimed. "That must have shaken you up some! Did the baby go to term?"
"Let me continue," said Bernard. "The subjects—we can't call them 'Children' any more—were now about thirty-four years old, though they looked rather older. And it was certainly a mystery as to how the girl became pregnant, seeing as we had her under constant surveillance. I should explain that none of the girl Children menstruated, and none of the boy Children seemed capable of producing semen. That much we knew a lot earlier, when the Children were at the Grange—the special school—before the explosion—but we didn't publicise the fact.
"And there is absolutely no question of one of the male subjects impregnating the female. After a while in confinement, all the subjects stopped wearing any clothing, but even when the three were placed together, the males and the female showed no sexual interest in one another. So the pregnancy was a mystery. As much of a mystery as the Midwich pregnancies which started the whole thing off...
"But to my annoyance, my time on the case was coming to a close. I was approaching retirement age and I was re-assigned to other duties until I retired. I wanted to remain in the team until the offspring was born, but I was denied that opportunity.
"I did learn a bit from one of my colleagues, privately, some years later. It appears that the pregnancy was a very long one: about thirteen months. Far longer than any human gestation! And what was born was not one offspring but three—and they were nothing whatever like humans. What they looked like, I wasn't told.
"A week or two after these offspring were born, all three subjects, the two boys and the girl, suddenly died for no apparent reason. That's all I know about it. I assume the offspring, whatever they were, survived: were kept alive in some way and continued to be studied."
"So that's really all you know?" asked Jacqui, as she digested this extraordinary account. "You have no idea what happened afterwards?"
"Midwich is still sealed off, isn't it?" said Bernard.
"It certainly is. CCTV cameras everywhere. I tried to explore around the perimeter fence the other day, but I was sent packing in no uncertain terms. It's still got a notice saying 'PROHIBITED PLACE'."
"So," said Bernard, "I infer that the progeny, whatever they are, are still alive and being kept in close confinement in Midwich. If they had died, there surely wouldn't still be the need for such tight security. What has been learnt about them, I can't even guess..."
"Well, I mean to find out," replied Jacqui. "If it involves getting into Midwich in some way, I'm going to try it. Even if I get shot, I'd rather that than fail in my mission..."
"Good girl! I was hoping you'd say that. But please don't get yourself shot, my dear. There are ways to get in without that. I'll put you in touch with my successor on the team, if she's still on the case, Joyce Dawson—Captain Joyce Dawson that is. Her mother, Diana Dawson, used to work at the Grange—before it was converted into the special school for the Children. Maybe Richard mentioned her in his memoir?"
"I'm not sure. Wait a minute—was she one of the afflicted 'mothers'?"
"Yes she was. But Joyce wasn't born until after the bomb explosion—after Diana's first Child was killed. She's a lot younger than me! Joyce may be able to get you a pass to get into Midwich. I'll write to her—or rather, I'll dictate a letter for Imogen to write. I don't see well enough to write, myself, these days."
"Give her my e-mail address, if you write. Quicker than a letter." And Jacqui wrote it down, along with her phone number, on a piece of paper.
"Ah yes—this e-mail stuff. Never got the hang of it, I'm afraid. Pen and paper was always good enough for me. But I'll pass this on to Imogen."
Jacqui could sense that Bernard was becoming very tired. He had kept up his end of the conversation brilliantly, but now, surely, was time to bring the meeting to a close. She stood up.
"It's been awfully good of you to see me and tell me so much, Bernard," she said. "I can't begin to think how to thank you. But now I think it's time to go."
"A pleasure to talk to you, Jacqui, I assure you. It's been so nice to have a lovely young lady to keep me company. You'll forgive me if I don't get up. Goodbye."
As she drove home Jacqui reflected on the impression Bernard had made on her. How alert and well-informed he had been! How comprehensive his memory of events, in contrast to his obvious physical frailty! She hoped to have more meetings with him in the future, but for now she should see if she could contact this Captain Dawson. Probably she would have to wait to hear from her, or from Bernard once again.
Back at home, she considered Grandad's laptop once more. There were three more files, numbered 4, 5, and 6, that she hadn't opened yet. She opened no.4, which luckily accepted the same password as no.3, but it didn't contain anything of use to her. It was no more than a postscript to his long account of the previous file, covering events after Zellaby's death: in particular, the sudden evacuation of Midwich. Angela, Zellaby's widow, had relinquished the family home, Kyle Manor, and moved to live close to her stepdaughter Ferrelyn in Scotland. The vicar, Rev. Leebody, and his wife had been offered a living somewhere in Cornwall. There were further notes on some of the other Midwich residents, and within about two months the entire village had been vacated, not without some resentment. The ruins of the Grange had been swiftly demolished, and workers had moved in to board up all the remaining houses.
Except Kyle Manor. This had been taken over by the Ministry, and security had been set up around the house, but to what end, Richard wrote, he could not guess. He assumed that, with the death of all the Children, the case was closed and there was no need for further security. Perhaps there was anxiety about a possible future 'invasion'? But if so, surely that could happen anywhere on the planet. Why was Midwich so 'special'?
Grandad rambled on for some paragraphs weighing up his suppositions—but Jacqui realised that not once had he guessed the truth: that some of the Children had survived the explosion and were about to be re-housed in Midwich: presumably in Kyle Manor. This was a secret Bernard had evidently chosen not to share with him.
In any case business interests eventually recalled Grandad to Canada, and he lost contact with Midwich. But his memories remained, and besides embarking on his career as a Sci-fi novelist, he must have spent time writing up as full a secret account of the happenings in Midwich, as he could muster. The account that Jacqui had just read.
The remaining files contained little of interest to Jacqui: they were mostly about Grandad's affairs in Canada, and nothing to do with Midwich. Jacqui skipped quickly through those.
Then it was a matter of getting on with her normal life, whilst impatiently waiting for some sort of communication, either from Bernard again, or from this Captain Dawson. Paul was still teasing Jacqui about her 'obsession', as he named it: indeed he sometimes popped outside into the garden with a pair of binoculars, and scoured the skies, "just to see if I can spot any of them flying saucers," as he explained.
Jacqui knew that he was trying to wind her up, but she endured it. She was content to bide her time—for a while. She resumed her work on the sports pages.
After two weeks, Jacqui was beginning to think no more would come of it. Would she have to drop her investigation? But then—an e-mail did arrive. It was from a Sergeant Wilson, and explained that his former commanding officer, Major Dawson (Jacqui noted the promotion), had received a letter from Colonel Westcott. She had since retired from service, but she was still interested in meeting Jacqui. Could she ring to make an appointment?
Three days later Jacqui was in the flat of a rather severe-looking lady in late middle-age, with grey hair close-cropped in the military fashion. This was Joyce Dawson, dressed in a civilian outfit of tweed: she was explaining that she had been retired for some years, so she was no longer working on the project that Bernard had written about. But she then introduced Jacqui to a younger woman, in her thirties maybe, in military uniform and likewise in short hair mostly concealed in a beret. "This is Captain Helen Moon, who has taken over my role in the Midwich operation."
As she shook hands with both women, Jacqui found it hard to suppress a chuckle at the Captain's name. Singularly appropriate for research into extra-terrestrials!—if they were extra-terrestrials. But whatever they were, they certainly didn't originate on the Moon. Jacqui managed to keep a straight face, though, and hoped her amusement hadn't been noticed.
"I understand you have taken a close interest in Midwich, Mrs Coombes," Major Dawson began. "Can you explain how that came about?"
"My maiden name was Gayford, Jacqueline Gayford, and I am the granddaughter of the late Richard Gayford, who was a writer of Sci-fi novels. He was a resident of Midwich at the time of the events in the early 50s. And he has written a long account of what he and others observed, both then and at the time of the explosion. I also learned a lot from Bernard—Colonel Westcott—about the survival of three of the Children, their confinement in Midwich, the discovery about 'gadolinium', the birth of some strange 'offspring', and the Children's subsequent deaths. That's all I know. I should emphasise that my grandfather has protected his narrative with encryption, and as far as I know I'm the only person who's read it. For several years it was kept locked in the safe at his solicitor's. I'm sure Bernard, too, has spoken of these things only to me."
"That is as well," said Captain Moon, speaking for the first time. "The operation is still classified as Secret: although there have been some calls to declassify it, the Prime Minister, who has taken a personal interest in the matter, has directed that it shall remain Secret for the foreseeable future.
"So we shall need to take precautions. You have already signed the Official Secrets Act. When we heard about you, we originally directed that you be Positively Vetted, but the Minister over-ruled us. He reminded us that this is not a case of suspected subversive elements working for a foreign Power! The only risk is that of mass panic, should the public become aware of these matters. You probably know what happened in Midwich in the final few days before the explosion, so we have to be extra careful.
"So we have written to the editor of the newspaper you work for, instructing her not to accept any material from you except in your capacity as sports reporter. And even that content will need to be vetted by our officers before publication. You must forgive us for not entirely trusting you, Mrs Coombes, but you will of course appreciate the sensitivity of this matter."
"I understand," said Jacqui, rather ruefully. She wondered if she was in this too deep! What on earth did they expect of her?
"Accordingly," resumed Captain Moon, "I shall apply to the Minister to see if we can get a pass for you to visit Midwich—a visit in which many of your questions may be answered. All I will say to you for now, is that, yes: three alien creatures are still alive: they are being kept under shielding and tight security in Midwich. That's all I'm authorised to tell you at the moment. But I will also say this—off the record," she added, with a glance at Major Dawson, who nodded. "I'll be really relieved—and so will the whole MoD—to get these—things—off our backs. Perhaps you can find a way...?"
Now Jacqui understood. Perhaps the idea was to repatriate the beings to their home planet—but how? Earth-made unmanned spacecraft had ventured as far as Pluto and the Kuiper belt, but these creatures must surely come from another star system, and she knew interstellar travel was utterly beyond human technology...
And it may be an old joke, but Jacqui certainly knew nothing about 'rocket science'!
She took her leave of the two officers, who promised that they'd be in touch again in a week or two. So all she could do now was sit and wait.
She was afraid that Paul might quiz her closely about her meeting, but luckily he confined himself to the usual banter, which she could tolerate, however tiresome. "So, that woman you've been to see—she keeps a flying saucer in her back garden, I suppose. Did she take you for a ride?" Witticisms like these Jacqui had no difficulty in rebutting.