Tomorrow 7 - The Other Side Of Dawn by John Marsden Read Free Book Online Page A

be achieved. You have to concentrate on the enemy’s centre of gravity.
    ‘What is their centre of gravity?’ Fi wanted to know.
    ‘Cavendish.’
    ‘Cavendish?’
    ‘ Yes, and the transport system around Cavendish. It’s the hub of a rail and road network, as well as being the biggest industrial centre in the state. We’ve bombed it but without a lot of success. Their air cover’s too strong. We lose too many aircraft.’
    ‘I’ve never been to Cavendish,’ I said.
    It turned out none of us had.
    ‘Well, I believe it’s a nice place,’ Ryan said. ‘I recommend you pay it a visit.’
    After the hours of instruction Ryan finally got around to asking the big question. I suppose by then it had been established that we’d do it. We were all taking it for granted. So I got up as soon as he popped the question. I couldn’t be bothered getting into that discussion. ‘I’m going to check on the kids,’ I said. ‘They’ve been there a long time. If you’re taking a vote you can put me down as a “Yes”.’
    As I walked away I could hear them start up. ‘How long do you think we’d have to do it for?’ Fi asked. ‘Would you come and get us if we got hurt?’ Kevin asked.
    That was all I heard. I was pretty impressed by Kevin’s question though, and wondered what the answer had been. Then I realised that if Ryan said ‘Yes’, it still wouldn’t mean anything. How could we trust them to come and get us in an emergency? They might be dealing with other, bigger emergencies of their own. They mightn’t have any aircraft available. They mightn’t think we were worth the trouble. Again.
    All the same, I was curious to know his answer.
    The kids were bored and restless and keen to come back. I gave them a bag of Jelly Bellies I’d brought from Ryan’s supplies, admired their stories and drawings, and convinced them to stay a little longer.
    I didn’t hang around for long talking to them though, because I suddenly realised I had to change my vote.
    ‘I’m voting “No” after all,’ I said.
    ‘What?’ Ryan said, staring at me angrily. ‘What the hell are you on about?’
    ‘I can make it “Yes” again,’ I said. ‘No worries. There’s just one little condition.’
    ‘What?’ he said.
    The others were listening with interest.
    ‘You’ll have to take the ferals with you.’
    ‘The ferals ?’ he asked.
    ‘The kids. Gavin and the other three.’
    ‘No way,’ he said, looking horrified. ‘I can’t do that.’
    ‘Well, we can’t go out and harass the enemy if we’re baby-sitting a bunch of children,’ I said, glad that the kids weren’t close enough to hear me describe them like that. ‘And we can’t leave them behind.’
    ‘There must be something else you can do,’ he said. ‘Take them to a safe place somewhere.’
    ‘You don’t know this area too well, do you?’ I said. ‘There’s nowhere safe any more. This morning proved that.’
    He sat there thinking. ‘I agree they’re too young to leave alone,’ he said after a while. ‘But I can’t possibly take them back.’
    ‘Why not?’
    He didn’t answer that, just sat there a bit longer. Suddenly he said: ‘Look, you’re not going to like this, but how would it be if they surrendered to the authorities? If they waited a day or two until I was well gone and you were safely out of the area? I don’t think it’d do any harm. They probably wouldn’t get asked too many questions. People would assume they’re just kids who’ve been living rough. And they won’t be prisoners for very long, because the peace settlement’ll come before they know it.’
    I couldn’t believe my ears. Ask Gavin to surrender? I could just picture his face when we told him.
    I searched for the words to explain to Ryan why they couldn’t surrender. Not after all they’d been through. And they wouldn’t obey us if we told them to anyway.
    But I couldn’t find the words, so in the end I just said: ‘Look, you take them in the chopper, or