I do not own any of the characters in the Insignia Trilogy, or the storyline in the books from which this is based. All rights belong to S. J. Kincaid. This was based on a love for Blackburn and the song 'Castaway' by Steve Knightley.
Please do listen to it. www . youtube . com watch?v=AkvOCxg6kZo
He is half of the band Show of Hands (amazing English folk band).
Walking through woodland, staring at the rain
I heard voices in the breeze
The wind was changing, I couldn't stay
Found myself running through the trees
Oh the lights shone down below from the houses and the farms
From the distant ships out in the bay
Somewhere in the space between the darkness and the light I fell from the edge of the day
No signal no siren, no warning signs on my way
I woke on the shores of this island castaway.
Cold air found me I was sleeping in the sand
Waiting for some feeling to return
No one around me, I walked along the strand
Looking for driftwood I could burn
Ashes and smoke they soared into the sky
Watching my future drift away
Somewhere in the space between the dusk and the dawn
I fell from the edge of the day
No signal no siren no warning signs on my way
I woke on the shores of this island, castaway.
Walking in footprints, maybe they're mine
The sun is in the wrong half of the sky
Staring into distance I'm looking for sails
Of some other stranger passing by
Feeling like the shark that slips into the deep
Sinking every second that it's still
Somewhere in the space between the sunset and the day
Something inside just wasn't filled
How long will I wait here - how many years must I stay?!
Just staring out at the horizon, castaway.
No signal, no siren, no warning signs on my way
I woke on the shores of this island, castaway.
This is a bit different to the books in terms of the timeline. It begins at the end of book two but then leaves a large gap before you get to book 3. Also Tom was not there when Heather was killed.
James Blackburn had killed her! He had cold bloodedly, calculatedly murdered Heather! Anna stared as she hid behind the desk, unable to believe it. She knew that he was capable of truly awful things, torturing her fellow trainee Tom Raines on the census machine and that he was a scary, burly teacher whom she never wanted to get on the wrong side of. But murder? Even with what she knew about his acts to Tom she would not have guessed, he was a teacher for crying out loud! But he would never be held accountable for Heather, the poor girl had been going anyway, no one would look too much into the disappearance and there was no proof at all. None. Except... except Anna's brain – her neural processer. She could memorise every sweat gland, every widening of the eyes, every word. Her brain was in shock currently but her processor would recall everything in perfect clarity. Her heart pounded as she crouched, frozen in place behind the plastic covered wood that was now her shield from the man that stood metres from her, breathing heavily having just sent someone to their death.
Anna was a trainee – a plebe at the Spire – at Com-co. She was 20 and older than many of the other recruits. She had only come here, to this room, to the interstice by the transition chamber because she had heard about the vactrain and wanted to look at it, she hadn't planned to stay long, just get in-get out. Now she knew she was a witness to an awful crime, and that it had been due to blackmail, about Tom. The blond boy was higher in rank and was constantly in trouble. She loved his 'bad-boy', daredevil attitude – she would never dare break as many rules as he did! What had Heather said? He had a weapon, or he could do something which Blackburn wanted to use as a weapon. Something her instructor, the gruff figure who taught programming each week, clearly was willing to kill for. A deadly mistake. The chilliness of the words.
Anna wondered what would have happened if Heather had realised. He should have told her what he would do if she stepped onto that train – he should have made it clear he wasn't bluffing, that he actually had a way to kill her, told her how and maybe, maybe she wouldn't have stepped into it. Maybe she would have believed him, but he was so vague she had no reason to. He should have – unless he didn't want her to survive their encounter? Anna's breath hitched as she started hyperventilating, shivering at the naked realisation that she had just made the top of that man's hit list. If he found out what she had seen.
Her brain tried to take her out of that spiral, to clear the fog. No. If Heather had known that was how Blackburn would end her, he would have had to take her to the census machine by force which he had said he would not do as he did not want to draw the attention of others still awake around the Spire. So she would have presumably have gone to bed and remained at the Spire, unable to leave at that time. Perhaps he could have grabbed her as she slept or detained her the next morning but it was too much of a risk. She could have easily messaged someone by then. He had no real other option. And he would not find out Anna had seen. Even if he did, he could simply wipe her memory of the event, she knew what he was capable of, she wouldn't refuse him. But memory wipes could be undone. A simple programme, for whatever reason could reverse it. It was not permanent. And Blackburn did not take risks. She was in danger.
Anna was hyperaware, feeling the vibration of machines, the pounding of her heart, the hardness of the floor beneath her feet, knowing how close she had come to death. She was still breathing whilst Heather, the beautiful but fake young woman with the brilliant smile who had ignored her only this morning, was gone. Dead. Out. She struggled to her feet, her brown hair clinging to her face in sweat, her hands trembling and her brilliant blue eyes, wide like a doe's, blinking tears. She could tell General Marsh but she wasn't sure how high up the power went. After all Heather had been on her way out and Blackburn was vital for the running of the Spire. There was also no evidence apart from her processor but she supposed Blackburn could say it was a virus making her see things or something. Then maybe he'd get her too. No. Anna couldn't say anything.
With that decision, Anna made her way, slowly, with mounting horror to her room which she shared with another plebe, Daisy. She did not plug herself in, she could not sleep. Could not possibly leave herself inert and unguarded after that. Could not stop and relax when Heather was unable to do so.
A month passed. Anna saw Blackburn in programming lessons and on her first encounter with the instructor since Heather's murder, naked fear had shown plainly on her face. He had glanced at her briefly and asked what was wrong, and Anna had frozen, quailed under his gaze and then stuttered that she had just realised that she could not programme. She was useless at it. This was the first thought that had come into her head and she had instantly regretted it. He had given her a stare that she was sure saw right through her and informed her that she would simply have to learn and get used to it. After that, Anna had tried hard to keep a more neutral expression on her face when in his class, although she still sometimes flinched if he came too near.
Their simulations had been going well. Tom still racked up a kill ratio better than anyone else, and went rogue on his own. Anna had taken to staring at him, wondering what it was that he could do – that had led to two smart and powerful individuals playing a deadly game. But to an extent she didn't want to know. She imagined it had something to do with the census device and whatever Blackburn had got from his head during that period, but if it was a secret that meant death, she wanted nothing to do with it. That wasn't strictly true. She had a plan. She would tell someone about what she had seen once she had somewhere to go, somewhere she could leave the Spire for, and hide. Or something came along. She didn't know how many more people Blackburn would kill or what this weapon was for and she fervently hoped he wasn't planning to use it soon because she was still determined to say something. But only when the right opportunity arrived. Only when she knew her claim would not be buried in bureaucracy.
Today was different to other days at the Spire. A group of trainees were doing a real-life training exercise. Not a simulation. It was to test their actual skills and would involve no guns, but knives and other such survival weapons were allowed. The aim was not to hurt the others as this was real-life, but to plant a device on those of the opposing team. Blackburn was with them as was another instructor, Mange. They were on travelling by boat to a small island called Canva as by sea was the only way to get there. The day chosen for the excursion was hot and sunny, as most areas surrounding desert islands were, but the sea was choppy, the wind high, blowing them off course. Blackburn adjusted the boat's motor to compensate for the push and they swayed back on track. Tom and his friends Wyatt and Vik were chatting excitedly. They called each other nicknames such as Gormless Cretin, Evil Wench and the best, Spicy Vikram, which Anna found highly amusing. She was an observer, she watched mainly. She noted that Tom's gaze lingered on Wyatt for a few seconds longer than it should have, that he was easily distracted by breasts and that he never seemed to notice other people unless they were ether useful to him, or agitated him. He barely ever even glanced at her. The boat was small, about 15 people crammed knee to knee in the rocking vessel, which of course Tom and Vik rocked further until Blackburn yelled at them. The look Tom gave his superior was less insolent than normal, it was angry and slightly afraid. Anna had purposefully sat as far away from that man as possible.
For the trip, the trainees had had their processors externally disabled which unfortunately included GPS and netsend. This would normally be considered dangerous and unnecessarily reckless but as Canva was only five miles long so they could hardly get lost, it wasn't deemed an issue. The Spire had an old drone above to keep an eye on them but the idea was to try and cope as if they did not have the benefit of the processer. It was the first excursion of its type at the Spire, pushed from above. Blackburn seemed particularly unhappy with it. Anna was not entirely sure what the purpose of this was but she relished the chance to try the game outside of a simulation. She had kept under Blackburn's radar so far and she was determined that she would continue to do so.
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One of the first of many requests/pleas/demands etc. for reviews :) (btw that means positive ones :P Negative ones are henceforth to be known as INSULTS) :P