Adventures of the Cosmic Woman

Chapter Thirteen

   

'It looks alright,' Infield said as she inspected the crooked beams, warped plaster, and stained timber that the government's repairs were comprised of. They were in Mahlia's bedroom. The drone had come right through the wall while Mahlia had been fixing her hair.

The windows didn't fit in the frames properly.

'It looks shit,' Infield corrected herself in despair.

'Good enough for the landlord. It'll do,' Mahlia muttered as she came out of the bathroom in her work clothes. The adult diaper ruffled as she walked. 'I'm gonna go see if I still have a job.'

'Talk to a lawyer?'

'I have to submit a status report. Insured for... I have to pay his health and education insurance... income protection insurance... other shit - job, car, house... not insane. One of the mums at Rowan's school got to see her son through the fly-screen door at his father's house one hour every Sunday unless it was raining.'

Infield heard the quaver in her daughter's voice as the rambled. Like when she was little and hurt by something – a mean kid at school, the way of the world...

'If you need me,' Infield said, as her fingers gripped the edge of the glass device in the front pocket of her hoodie.

'Yep.'

Infield followed her out the front door, the gate, and watched her get in her car and drive away. Stood in the driveway and listened to the silence. Felt the emptiness around her without Mahlia. Across the street some black kids loitered and Infield felt their eyes move toward her.

People who don't sleep don't need a place to stay.

A Fortress of Solitude somewhere? There had to be reception so Mahlia could reach her.

I'll never be too far away.

Infield stared at the urchins across the street until they were all looking at her. One of them started toward the road. Arms out by his sides. The others flocked behind him and they started to march toward her. The road was littered with cars. Traffic didn't seem to have moved since Infield and Mahlia had arrived. They could just walk across. Infield leaped into the air and activated her shield as she hurtled toward them. She pushed it out in front of her and felt it slam into their bodies as she pushed them all back into a twisted heap on the nature strip between the main road and the service road. Infield landed in front of them, shield down. Eyes glowing.

She grabbed the leader by his singlet, bunched it in her fist and lifted him into the air above them.

'I'm watching over this house,' Infield said. She held his face toward Mahlia's home. 'Day and night. Make sure your friends know.'

Infield let him drop again. He screamed. Landed with a slap onto the pile of his buddies as they were just starting to untangle themselves. Infield shot up into the sky. Up and up. Less than seconds, the city and a portion of the bay were beneath her - a veil of thin cloud. The perpetual cloud. Smelled bittersweet. It only then occurred to Infield that the first clear day she'd seen since returning to earth had been at Pine Gap. Middle of nowhere. Everywhere else had this sheen of sickly mist. For familiarity's sake, she decided on somewhere away from it and looked out at the bay.

Fort Nepean.

An old fortress on the tip of the eastern peninsula. Tunnels, bunkers, the works. Infield flew toward it and in the blink of an eye the bay was hurtling bye beneath her, rimmed by smoggy coasts in every distance.

Tourist destination. People go there all the time.

Do they still though?

Of course. Why wouldn't they? It's history.