SELECTION
"Um, going to bed mum, can't stay up much longer," Tilly lied. Mum was crying.
"Oh, my poor baby, wanting to get away from it all, you can talk to me, you know!" Mum sobbed. Jane sat next to mum on the couch, and dabbed her eyes with a tissue. Sean sat down next to Jane, and stared aimlessly at the wallscreen. When Tilly looked into her mum's eyes, she wanted to simply sit down next to mum, and sob, and tell her all about her conversation with the scary Dr. Cable. Tilly sat down. Mum put her arm around Tilly. "I can't believe he's gone," Tilly whispered. Mum nodded. "Either can I. I just expect him to walk through the door, but he's not going to!"
Jane started to wail. "What if he survived mum, what if he's alright?" Jane asked through tears. Mum shook her head. "The plane fell straight out of the sky dear. He didn't survive; it's not possible. It was all just a terrible accident." Tilly had been sitting there, content, itching not to say something about her conversation with Dr. Cable. At mum's remark about the plane crash being an accident, Tilly couldn't take it anymore. She stared into her mother's eyes. "Mum, I have something to tell you," Tilly announced.
"Yes, dear?" Mum asked.
"The accident," Tilly said. "It was…." Tilly stopped. Something had caught her eye - the cameras mounted to the roof in each corner of the room - Betty's cameras. She couldn't tell her mum – if mum was supposed to know about how the oil spores came to exist, then Dr. Cable would have told her. If Tilly told her mother about the spores, who knew what Dr. Cable would do to her – she was evil! Mum stared at Tilly. "What dear?" Mum asked.
"The accident, it was…….really bad," Tilly said hastily. Mum nodded, and blew her nose on a tissue. "Why don't we sit around the old wallscreen, and watch a slideshow of photos? Maybe we'll spot some good ones of your father?" Mum suggested. Tilly thought about this. "Mum, I think that's a great idea," Tilly said. "But first, can I please go up to my room. I need to check something."
Tilly pressed the "Power" button on the computer. "Come on, come on!" she urged it. Two holograms shot out of the top of the slender piece of metal – one was the screen, and the other was a keyboard and mouse. Tilly touched the keyboard hologram. It read her finger. "Welcome, Tilly!" it greeted. "You're in an awfully good mood," Tilly muttered under her breath. Tilly opened her email program. Dr. Cable's email was there. Tilly opened it. There was a file attached. Tilly opened it with the wink of an eye. It was some kind of foreign program, one that Tilly hadn't learnt about in school. There was a small box at the top of the page. "What's that?" Tilly asked, waving the mouse over the box. "This is a box where you type in the name of a subject to see if they are selected," the computer announced. Tilly typed in her name. Everything about her was listed, including a school photo. Tilly laughed. She had always wondered where your school photo went. Now she knew. Tilly typed in Violet's name. Luckily, she was selected. Tilly sighed with relief. At least she'd be taking a friend with her. Now was the moment of truth. Was the rest of her family coming with her to be saved?