‘It’s beautiful,’ I said, staring through the glass.
‘The apartment comes with the job,’ said Admiral Westland. ‘We don’t usually spend a lot of time here; we have a home just out of town. But this week, we’ve stayed here a lot. Closer to Orion.’
That explained the feel of the place. It was too clean and tidy. Beautiful, expensive-looking furniture, but all styled like a show home photographed in one of those dream home magazines Miranda sometimes read. Apart from the family photos, there wasn’t much personal stuff lying around.
Mrs Westland came into the room with two men who I guessed were in their early twenties. Immediately I recognised them from Ryan’s photos.
‘Sit anywhere,’ she said.
The table was set for six. I took one of the end places.
‘Let me introduce everyone before we eat,’ said Mrs Westland. ‘These are my sons. This is Jem.’ She gestured towards the taller of the boys. ‘And this is Jove.’ The two boys shook hands with me and Saul. They both had the same brown eyes and hair as Ryan, although Jem was taller and Jove was stockier.
‘This is Saul White, Orion’s lawyer,’ Mrs Westland continued. ‘And this is Eden Anfield, the girl . . .’ She seemed to run out of words.
I could feel everyone looking at me.
‘The girl from 2012,’ said Saul. ‘The girl who is Orion’s best chance of a not-guilty verdict.’
‘Yes,’ said Mrs Westland. ‘The girl from 2012.’
Two women came in then, with platters of food. There was a silver tureen of cold green soup, a plate of rice cakes, pieces of meat in spiral shapes that reminded me of worms, squares of toast no bigger than postage stamps, platters of berries and a bowl of salad. One of the women began serving the green soup.
‘So does Ry have a good case?’ asked Jem, the older of the two brothers.
Saul reached for the rice cakes. ‘We will be arguing that Orion invoked the Clemency Protocol. It’s an old protocol, from way back when time travel was first invented. It’s only ever been used in a time trial once before.’
‘What is it?’ asked Jem. ‘I’ve never come across it in my studies.’
‘It allows clemency for a civilian who would otherwise need to be cleaned up,’ said Saul. ‘It can only be used when that civilian has made an important contribution to a time mission.’
‘Eden made an important contribution?’ asked Jove. I caught him looking at me sceptically.
‘She certainly did,’ said Saul. ‘She succeeded where your brother and the other time agents failed. She is the only reason their mission was a success.’
‘So it’s an open and shut case?’ said Jove.
Saul sighed. ‘Nothing is ever as simple as that. However, I believe we have a strong chance of success. It will be very difficult for the Court to deny that Eden made an unusual and vital contribution.’
Jem frowned. ‘So where’s the element of doubt?’
Saul took a sip of water. ‘Law is open to interpretation. It is my judgement that Eden’s rescue falls clearly within the remit of the Clemency Protocol. However, if the court believed that Orion travelled back to 2012 for reasons other than clemency, they could disregard the protocol.’
‘You mean, if Ry travelled back because he was in love with her or something,’ said Jove, throwing a quick glance in my direction.
‘Correct.’
‘Was he in love with you?’ asked Mrs Westland.
My spoon slipped out of my fingers. It clanged against the side of my soup bowl. ‘He came back to save my life.’
She held my gaze a second longer before turning away.
‘The prosecution will try to argue that Orion went back for love rather than duty,’ said Saul. ‘Which reminds me – make sure you’re dressed in a suit, Eden. Tie your hair back. It’s important to make the right impression.’
‘I’ll have a suit sent to you,’ said Admiral Westland. ‘It will save you having to deal with reporters following you around the stores.’
‘How’s Ry coping?’ asked Jem.
Admiral Westland’s face tightened. ‘He’s putting on a brave face.’
‘It’s the media speculation,’ said Mrs Westland. ‘I’ve told Ry not to watch the news, but he insists on watching it. All this talk about the lunar colony. Of course he’s scared.’
‘They won’t send him there,’ said Jove. ‘That place is reserved for terrorists and murderers. He’s not exactly in the same category.’
‘That’s what I keep telling him,’ said Mrs Westland. ‘He’s just a boy. He should never have accepted that mission in the first place. He hadn’t completed his training. He was too immature. Too impulsive.’ Her eyes brushed across me. ‘He has too strong a sense of duty.’
‘All things I will be saying at the trial,’ said Saul.
‘Can I see him?’ I asked.
‘That won’t be possible,’ said Mrs Westland. ‘Ry is only allowed one thirty-minute visit a day, apart from time with his lawyer. Jem and Jove have both flown in from Greenland today to see him.’
I nodded. ‘Oh.’
‘I think we can spare ten minutes of our time,’ said Jem. ‘If Ry finds out we stopped him seeing Eden today, he’ll kill us.’
Ryan was dressed in a green long-sleeved T-shirt and grey trousers, each marked with the Institute logo, the elongated clock with the distorted numbers. The clothes were too baggy on him; they hung off his body, making him seem thin and underfed.
He stood up from the table and pushed his hair from his eyes. ‘Eden.’
I crossed the space between us in seconds and wrapped my arms around his waist, pulling him tightly towards me. He smelt different and the same all at once. Different soap maybe, different clothes, but the same clean boy smell of his skin.
‘No physical contact,’ said the guard.
For a moment we ignored him. Ryan bent his head down and let his lips brush lightly against mine.
‘I said no contact,’ said the guard. ‘Unless you’re looking for a full body search, Westland.’
I dropped my arms to my sides, but we remained standing in front of one another, as close as it was possible to be without touching. My skin prickled with the desire to close the gap between us, to feel skin against skin.
‘Opposite sides of the table,’ said the guard. ‘Sit down. Hands where I can see them.’
We did as he said, our hands side by side on the table, just a hair’s breadth apart.
‘I’ve missed you,’ he said.
‘I tried to see you before, but they wouldn’t let me,’ I said.
‘I’m hardly allowed any visiting time. Most of my days have been taken up with my lawyer.’
‘Saul seems great,’ I said. ‘He was telling me about the Clemency Protocol.’
He looked up, hope shining from his eyes. ‘I’m feeling good about this, Eden. No one can argue that you weren’t important. Hell, if you hadn’t been there, Earth would be dying. I’d say that’s a pretty vital role.’
‘It’s going to be fine. In three days you’ll be out of here.’
He smiled. ‘Yeah.’
‘You should get your hair cut before the trial,’ I said. I liked the way it looked, but it was kind of scruffy. Without anything to style it, his fringe fell into his eyes.
‘Don’t worry. My mom has arranged for a haircut and a smart suit and all that stuff.’
We just stared at each other for a moment, smiling.
‘How are you coping?’ he said. ‘Have you been OK? I saw all those photographers following you on the news.’
‘Ugh,’ I said with a shrug. ‘It’s no big deal.’
‘I see you found Pegasus.’
‘Pegasus found me. He rescued me from my hotel room and took me up to the mountains.’
Ryan flicked his hair out of his eyes. ‘I can’t wait to be out of here so I can show you around myself.’
‘Me too.’
‘Have you met anyone else yet?’
‘Peg took me out last night. I met some of your friends.’
‘I saw you guys on the com-screen when you were leaving the bar. Are you OK? Did you get hurt?’
‘Everything was fine. I’m fine.’
He lifted one of his hands from the table and chewed at the skin on the side of his thumb. ‘You didn’t go back to the hotel last night?’
‘You’ve been watching too much TV.’
He didn’t say anything.
‘Peg offered me his spare room. It was easier than dealing with the reporters outside the hotel.’
‘Right.’ He pulled his other hand off the table and on to his lap.
‘Hands where I can see them,’ said the guard.
He put his hands back, but kept them on his side of the table.
‘Ryan,’ I said, reaching across, placing my hands as near his as I could reach. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing,’ he said, meeting my eyes with his. ‘It’s just so hard being locked up here while you guys are out there.’ He slid his hands back across towards mine.
‘Time’s up,’ said the guard.