Chapter Six – Conflict

Gum let out her breath, slowly, nervously. Okay. So she was in Onishima's office. So the entire building was searching for her. So she was in trouble.

She still lived, right?

And if she was in Onishima's office, she may as well look around…

Carefully she wriggled out from under the desk and began leafing through the papers on top of it. There were layers of them, many marked with rings of coffee. Letters from the public. Invoices for new building work. Documents of arrest for people she didn't know. Nothing surprising.

Suddenly she heard footsteps marching down towards the office, and dived under the desk again. The door flew open and hit the wall, and someone stamped inside.

Gum tried not to breathe.

The person was ruffling through the papers, then she heard a familiar mutter of "Damn," and Onishima pulled open one of the desk drawers. She saw him reach inside, take something out, start leafing through it. He laughed, short, sharp, like gurgling water.

Gum was starting to itch. She told herself to stay still.

Suddenly another pair of footsteps hurried towards the office.

"Captain Onishima, sir, that virus just wiped the hard drive, and I think it sent five hundred thousand kilobytes of world leader hentai to the Mayor of Tokyo."

Gum gritted her teeth, pressed her lips together, and tried to think very hard about nuclear war to stop a giggle escaping.

"Damn Noise Tanks…" She heard a chair scrape back. "Damn rudies…okay, I'm coming, but tell the technicians, okay? I'm no computer-freak…"

She heard him march out of the office, slamming the door behind him – and she heard him lock it.

Gum gulped. Oh, well, looked like it was the window or nothing. She crawled out from under the desk.

On top of the paperwork was a notebook, the pages of which were covered in scribbly black handwriting. Gum flipped to the front cover. Scrawled across it were the words 'Property of Police Chief Onishima. DO NOT TOUCH.'

Gum smiled, picked the notebook up, and shoved it down the front of her shirt.

Then she pushed Onishima's chair over to the far wall, stood on it, and eased the window open.

Now to start climbing.

She pushed down on the windowsill until her muscles throbbed, and shoved herself up over it. Swinging her legs round, she dropped to the ground outside the police station.

Move it.

She hurried into the Shibuya backstreets, humming under her breath.

"I am a rudie, that's what I am…I am a rudie, I had the master plan…I am a rudie, that's what I am…I am a rudie, I had the master plan!"

***

Past Gum, Tab and Yo-Yo had been thinking for the last half-hour, and hadn't yet come up with any ideas.

"See?" Yo-Yo snapped. "We thought all this out five years ago. What's the point in doing it again?"

"Don't start all that complaining," Gum said.

"I'm entitled to complain. You guys beetled off and left me all alone, I have a right to be gloomy about that."

"We're here now, aren't we?" Tab said.

Yo-Yo shrugged. "Yeah, well, but I still haven't forgiven you."

Gum wondered whether he'd forgive her shaking him till his teeth rattled.

Suddenly she heard the garage door open, and a voice called, "Yo-Yo, I'm ba – ack!"

A very familiar voice.

Gum swallowed, and turned round.

"Oh, wow," Tab murmured from behind her. "Freaky."

Gum tried to shake the conviction that she was just looking into a mirror. It didn't work. This couldn't be her, she was her, so who was this…

"What – the – hell – is going – on?"

Future Gum sounded either really furious or really frightened.

"Tab, you explain," Gum said. "I think she'll take it better coming from you."

Tab quickly ran through the day's events. As he did so, Gum stared at her future self, trying to make her mind believe what her eyes were seeing.

She would grow her hair longer – Future Gum's reached to halfway down her back. And she would look angrier. Tenser.

And for some reason, she'd be wearing a prison guard's uniform.

Tab finished explaining, and they waited.

"That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard," Future Gum said.

"Or maybe she won't take it at all," Gum said.

"Listen," Future Gum snarled, marching over to her double. "I don't know who you are, or what you're doing here, but I'm telling you right now, get out of this garage!"

"I'm a GG. I'm entitled."

"You are not a GG. There's only one GG who looks like you, and that's me!"

"If I'm not a past you, who am I?" Gum tried not to yell. This was wasting time…

"You can't be a past me because if you were, I'd remember time-travelling at…however old you are. And I don't. So you're someone with a very good plastic surgeon. Or my long-lost twin sister."

"She's actually got a point," Yo-Yo said. "If Gum time-travelled at seventeen, why doesn't she remember it when she's twenty-two?"

"You did fall and hit your head, right?" Gum said. "The night Beat disappeared?"

"Yeah. How did you –"

"Because I'm you, idiot!"

"Don't call me an idiot, faker!"

"Faker? At least I don't go around with mud on my face and a cop's uniform on!" Gum snapped.

Future Gum glowered. "I have just sprung myself out of jail. Something I doubt you could do."

"Oh, really? Why?"

"Because you're not me!"

Do I really look that vicious when I'm angry? Gum wondered. Or is it something I'm gonna develop in the next five years?

If I ever get back, of course.

"I'm not you. I'm you five years ago. For heaven's sake, just accept it and then we can get on with things!"

"We? You're not part of our gang."

"I am."

"You're not."

"I am!"

"You're not!"

"Girls, girls, please!" Tab dashed between the two Gums. "Ummm…Future Gum…you were saying you hit your head?"

"Yes. But I was just knocked out for an hour or so. And shouldn't I be Present Gum? This is my time zone."

"Well, maybe when I go back I won't remember any of this," Gum said. "That's why none of it will have been changed. And then my GGs will turn into your GGs and we'll all end up miserable, and then another Gum will come into my present and we'll have this argument and then –"

"Stop!" Yo-Yo yelled. "That's too many Gums for me to cope with!"

Future Gum glanced at him, and they both blushed.

"Yo-Yo," she said, "Do you believe this time-travel stuff?"

"I didn't, but…look, we could sort out the situation we're in now. Gum could find Beat so that he wouldn't have to get caught, and then…well, you see what I mean?"

Future Gum bit her lip. "I guess that would be cool. I saw him, and –"

"What? In jail?" Yo-Yo asked.

"Yeah. Got to talk to him."

"And?" Tab didn't look at her, glanced out of the window, the afternoon sunlight shadowing his features.

"Well, he says he's okay. Said to tell you all he's alive. But –" She closed her eyes for a second, then spoke, throwing down the words: "We've got to get him out of there. They're hurting him and he's pretending he can handle it but he can't. Five years, five damn years…"

She turned, quickly, and faced Gum. "Okay. Fine. I'll believe you. If you can get him out, I'll believe anything you say."

"Hang on, though," Yo-Yo said. "If you don't remember time-travelling when you were seventeen, who says she'll –" He indicated Gum. "– be able to do anything? If she don't remember, she'll just do what she was going to do anyway, and that'll be to go back to the garage, and that'll get Beat caught, and that'll be that."

"How did it happen, anyway?" Future Gum said. "Come on, Tab, you're the hi-tech Benten crazy around here. How'd she do it?"

Tab didn't answer. He was still gazing out of the window. Future Gum poked him in the back.

"Huh?"

"How'd she time-travel?"

"I don't know."

Gum saw her future self and Yo-Yo glance at each other.

"Tab?" Future Gum said more gently. "We can finish this conversation later, if you want. We've got all the time in the world…"

"No. No, I'm fine." Tab turned to face them again, his face blank. "How'd she do it? I don't know. It's possible, but unless there's a wormhole in Center Street – which I doubt – I don't see how she could have done it."

"It's possible?" Gum said.

"Well, if it isn't, you're not me," Future Gum said, "and I have to start arguing with you again."

"Yes, it's possible," Tab said. "You see, space and time aren't separate, but instead form one thingy called space-time. You can rotate a, like, majorly dense object and it'll drag space-time round, and you think you're walking through space but you're actually walking through time…"

"Yeah…" the other three GGs said.

"Or there's wormholes, which are pairs of black holes, and if you go through one black hole and come out in another you can come out in a different time."

"You've been reading too many books with big words in them again," Future Gum said. "This don't seem to fit our situation. You didn't go past any rotating objects or walk into a black hole, did you?" she said, glancing at Gum, who shook her head. "So how'd it happen?"

"Maybe it's all a dream," Yo-Yo said. "You know, a confused hallucination brought on by the blow on the head."

"In which case, buddy, you're a figment of my imagination," Gum said. "If I stop thinking about you you'll vanish. So be nice to me."

"If we don't know how she did it, she can't get back," Tab said. "I think."

"I don't want to be stuck here," Gum said, speaking calmly in the hope that she could pretend she hadn't heard what he'd said. "I really don't."

"You have to have got back," Future Gum said. "Or I wouldn't be here."

"Then let's just assume she does get back, and stop worrying about it," Yo-Yo said. "Past Gum, if you get back, tell Beat…uh…what should she tell Beat, Future Gum?"

"Go home, don't stay out all night, and repair that crack in your skate," Future Gum said. "That should do it. If you get back far enough, tell him not to go to that meeting with the Love Shocker either. But look, I don't think we should rely on you getting back. We should try and get him out ourselves."

"Okay," Tab said. "You talked to him. Any ideas?"

They discussed it for the rest of the day, and finally stopped as the sun started to set.

"Tab, you staying here tonight?" Future Gum asked.

"I don't know. You're not gonna do anything without me, are you?"

"No, we can wait for you."

"Okay." Tab put his mask back on. "I'll head back to Benten. See you tomorrow."

Gum watched as he headed out into the street and skated away, the orange light coating his white uniform. He moved slowly, seem to go through the motions of skating without needing to think about it. It was weird to see him going away, to know that he wasn't one of them any more.

"Why's he so gloomy?" she asked.

"You don't know?" Future Gum said. "No – of course you don't, he hasn't told you."

"What?"

"I'd better keep my mouth shut. Wouldn't want to muck up the fabric of reality, now would I?"

Gum glowered as her future self sauntered away. He's my friend too, she muttered in her mind. Not just yours, mine. Stop treating me like a kid.

But you are a kid, to them. Only seventeen, even Yo-Yo's older than you now. They've all grown up, and left you behind.

The sofa was covered with beer cans, paint and magazines. Gum swept it all off, enjoying the clatters and thumps that resulted, and sat down. Flicking on the TV, she leant back against the chair, and scowled.

***

Future Gum started pulling off the guard's clothes, which had been itching at her for the past hour. She threw them into a heap on the floor, dropped Onishima's notebook on top of them, and then stood in her underwear, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"Freedom! Geez, how they can wear those things day in day out…"

"I thought you looked pretty hot in it."

Gum yelped and threw her arms across her chest. "Yo-Yo, go away!"

He walked out of the shadows. "What? It's not like I haven't seen you like that before."

Gum glared at him. "You could have asked or coughed or something. Let me know you were there."

"Now, where would be the fun in that?"

Gum stormed over to the cupboard, and pulled out her spare clothes. "Look," she said, pulling on her black jeans. "About…well, about that night."

"Yeah. About that night."

"What…what was it?"

"You should read more biology textbooks."

"Ha ha. I mean, was it a fling? A one-night stand? Or did you, did you…"

"Mean it?"

"Yeah, I guess." Gum wriggled into her black top, then picked up a hairbrush. Tipping back her head, she started to brush her hair, sharply, exterminating the tangles.

"Dunno."

"It's just, well, I don't really want anything…serious."

"Why not? Thought all girls were gagging for commitment."

"No. I need all my wits about me at the moment, especially…especially now things have changed."

"Mmm. So…that's it, then?"

"Yes."

No, her thoughts whispered. Shut up, she told them.

"Yes, I think we'd better forget it. I mean, we know it would never've happened if we hadn't been on our own."

"Yeah." Yo-Yo stared at his skates. "Well, I'm cool with that. Only wanted a bit of a thrill."

"Oh. Okay." So you didn't mean what you said? When you stroked my hair and everything, and told me you'd die for me? Well, of course you didn't. You're a guy, and you're Yo-Yo.

"I'll see you around, okay?" Yo-Yo shrugged, and walked out of the room.

"Yeah."

Gum picked up an eyebrow pencil and started redrawing the tag on her cheek.

That's good, she thought. He doesn't want a committed relationship any more than you do. That's very good. Who needs a boyfriend? Much better to be on your own. Own thoughts. Own life. No sex when you don't want to, no put-downs, no sharing a bed with someone who snores.

Why then did she have this odd, dying feeling between her ribs, like a trapped flame or a sob made physical?

Because you're stupid, and sex-starved, and tired after a long day, she answered herself. Go buy a vibrator, and have a sleep.

And don't, whatever you do, start crying.

***

Past Gum was channel-hopping when Yo-Yo flopped down next to her, making the sofa sink.

"Hi," she said. He didn't answer. On the screen, someone was trying to win a car.

"What's with you?" she asked at last.

"Nothing. What's with you?"

"Nothing."

"Oh, come on. You've got a face on you like a rabid werewolf."

"Thanks a bunch," Gum said. "Well, it is a little difficult to find all my friends have gained five years on me, and that they're scattered to the four corners of the globe. You know, it pisses me off a little."

"I guess it must be tough."

Gum glanced at him. He was staring at the TV, his profile outlined by the glowing screen, where someone was trying to remember who'd won the World Cup in 1966.

"What's wrong with you, anyway?" she said.

"Nothing."

Suddenly he turned to face her, grabbed her shoulders, and kissed her.

Holy shit! was Gum's first thought as his tongue caressed hers. She was beginning to tremble, heat rushing over her skin through her chest down to her feet…

They broke away, stared at each other. Gum could feel sweat on her face, cool and damp.

On the TV, the time ran out, and a siren sounded.

She leaned forward, and kissed him again, gripping his back, feeling him warm and muscular under his clothes. His hands brushed her chin, and then her helmet was off, and her hair loose, and he was stroking it, and his hands under her dress, fingers on her collarbone, down, stroking her ribs, her shoulders were bare now, he smelt of beer and paint and heat, and she was scared, her body felt so crazy…

Then he stopped.

Moved away.

Gum wriggled up. "What – what's wrong?"

"I shouldn't have done that."

"Why not?"

"It's taking advantage of you."

"Look, I'm only a year younger, and I'm no angel!"

"I just can't, okay?" He got to his feet. "Sorry."

"Whatever." Gum glowered as he walked out. She felt childishly angry. It's not fair. That had felt so great and now he'd taken it away.

She felt herself tear up, and blinked, then turned back to the TV. The closing credits were rolling.

***

Beat lay in the dark, trying not to think.

It wasn't like it wasn't good dreaming about escape, about freedom, about being happy again. He did that every night.

It was just that this time it might actually happen, that he might have a chance of having what he yearned for.

And thinking about that – about what could be – was just dangerous.

If it did happen, all well and good – he quickly dragged his mind away from how good it would be.

But if it didn't, if he just went on waiting and waiting and nothing ever happened, or worse, if he saw them get caught as well, then…he felt despair break over him like a icy black wave, and shivered. He was scared of that despair. It could sweep him underwater and drown him.

You saw the ones in here it had already happened to. Not just the ones who cried or screamed at night. The ones who'd gone past that, who now just sat, frozen-faced, not listening, not answering, the zombies.

And the ones who'd gone past that…the ones you never saw because they'd smuggled in a knife, or torn up their sheet and put one end round their neck and let themselves drop, or the ones who managed to get hold of bad stuff and burn out their insides…

And sometimes it seemed so easy to join them.

And he wasn't going to. He wasn't.

So easy…

He gripped his arm again, deliberately angling fingers to press down on the bruised bone, and the pain rose up like a sudden fire, and burnt out the thought for a few moments.

Keep going another minute, he hissed to himself. Keep going and you'll be all right.

There was a rattling at the door.

Beat lay completely flat, and tried not to panic.

The door opened, and faint blue light spilled into the cell. Part of the remaining shadow spat out a figure, which marched forward and pulled him to his feet.

"Get up. The captain wants to see you."

You'll be okay, Beat told his thoughts, which were starting to shiver. You've put up with this before. You'll be okay, you'll be okay…

I really, really want to go home…

Outside it was dark, the lights on the wall dimmed to ice-colour. The air was ice-texture as well, biting his fingers and feet. And the shadows were too black, black enough to fall into…

I need more sleep, Beat told himself.

Soon they'd reached the ground floor, which was almost completely black. And there was Onishima's office door, the letters silhouetted against the lit glass like ash against a bonfire.

The guard pushed him into the room. It was only a little warmer here. The desk lamp glowed, too bright, and he squeezed his eyes shut a moment. When he opened them, he saw Onishima sitting at the desk, looking even more manically furious than normal. With him were the two guards who'd chased Gum earlier that day.

I've got a bad feeling about this, Beat's brain murmured.

The guard who'd brought him shoved him down into the chair facing Onishima, then stepped back. Beat waited. Everyone was silent.

Then Onishima leapt up, slammed his fist down on the table, and roared, "Where the hell did that rudie whore go with my notebook?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Beat said. For once he actually meant it. Presumably Gum had pissed Onishima off, but what was this about a notebook?

"Don't play dumb with me!" The veins were bulging out on Onishima's neck. "You tell me where she is or you'll wish you'd never been born!"

"I don't know where she is," Beat said, trying to keep his voice steady. "I didn't see where she ran to, did I?"

"You knew her."

"Prove it."

"I'm told by a reliable source…" Onishima gestured to the guards behind him. "I'm told you knew her, spoke to her by name."

"They heard wrong."

Onishima marched round from behind his desk and came to stand next to Beat. "Don't lie to me, rudie scum. You knew her. You have at least an idea of where she's heading, and I suggest you speak up."

"I don't know anything."

Onishima gripped Beat's arm, right where it ached. Beat gritted his teeth and tried not to think about the agony shooting up his bones.

"So you don't know her, do you?"

"No…"

He squeezed his eyes shut to stop the tears of pain escaping, and tried not to cry out. Just keep silent and you'll be okay…

"So why did you call out to her?"

"I – I didn't. I didn't."

He felt himself growing dizzy, and just as he knew he was going to cry out, Onishima let go of him. Beat slumped back in the chair, breathing slowly, trying to think up a new variation on the 'I don't know,' phrase.

"Don't even bother lying," Onishima spat out, eyes blazing. "I know you did it. I know you knew her. I am going to track her down and I am going to make her suffer. Do you hear me? What's happened to you is nothing – nothing – to what I'm going to do to her and the rest of her friends."

"You touch them and I'll kill you –"

The sentence was torn from him before he could think, and he cursed silently as a crumpled smile crept over Onishima's face.

"So they do matter to you, do they?"

Oh, well done, his mind snapped. The first time you actually let him get to you and you totally blow it. Oh, great. Just great.

"Yeah," he said. "Which is why I've got nothing to say to you."

He felt Onishima grip his arm again – the pain rose – and then Onishima twisted it, and Beat heard himself scream.

"You don't talk that way to me, rudie," Onishima growled, voice thick with fury. "You tell me everything you know. And you do it now."

Beat wanted to speak, tell Onishima where to shove his threats, but he couldn't, it hurt too much, he couldn't bear it, he couldn't, and his voice leapt free and yelled, "They're gone, there's only two left…"

"Really?" Onishima let go of him. Beat's ears ached from the relief.

"No," he said, hardly able to see at all now, "No, I won't do it…"

And the agony returned, rose, through the black holes opening in his vision he saw Onishima raise a fist –

Snap

"Get talking."

Onishima's voice seemed very far away.

"No…"

A blow across the head…then someone smacked him in the mouth. He tasted blood.

This happened before all right…and he couldn't take it any more…stop it, stop it, leave me alone, did he say that out loud? Who knew, who cared…if he just spoke, maybe he'd be able to get out of here, out of this life, out of the pain boiling around him. It had to be better than this, had to be…

"They…they live on Lake Street…in the garage…"

***

Tab skated into the walkway area. It was a warm night, and he peeled off his mask.

He walked up the steps, jumped onto the banister, ground, leapt, did a Method, landed on the next set of banisters. The air rushed over his skin. As he leapt again, he saw the lights around him, glowing, little flickers of fire, and he felt oddly happy.

He hadn't felt like this for months. He could kid himself it was the beauty of Benten-cho at night, but he knew it wasn't that really. It was that at long last they had some hope.

He had some hope.

It's dangerous to hope. You might jinx it.

But tonight he could just…well, just enjoy the possibility…it might work…they might get him out of there…he might see him again…it could all be like it used to.

"We're gonna do it," he said to the sky. "We're really gonna do it. Beat, you better get your glad rags on. Cos the GGs are coming home!"