The Pole Shift

Mnem and the Van of Dreams

They  had driven for an hour and were on the outskirts of Ballarat, a city birthed from gold in the ground, they had found tonnes of the yellow stuff and were still looking. The two had hardly talked but there was no atmosphere, easy he thought, it is easy to be with her.  He thought about Sean, of Jimmy, and Lett, whilst Mnem hummed and watched the trees pass with her eyes half lidded. The little sparrow had found a home in the nook above her collarbone and wasn't making a fuss either. He presumed the other sparrows were lost somewhere in Melbourne. Perhaps that was the reason for her quiet.

                "What do you think will happen to the other sparrows?" He said then smiled at her as he quietened the van.  His attention was momentarily on the V8 engine,  it murmured before silencing, like an enormous bear finding sleep.

                "I don't know, try and find the little one, I'm not sure they'll find her." So she was thinking of that then. He said:

                "It's hard to let go, best to think that they can go their own way without you." She glanced out the window and shrugged. The mottled gum outside baked on an unusually hot Autumn afternoon. Flies buzzed. The old gold diggings stretched out into the bush. He was reminded of being a kid and riding his bike up and over, in and out of the dangerous mines.  He had a memory of seeing a cat, a big one.  The feline, the size of a Labrador, had regarded him for what seemed something outside of time. The feral offspring of the once house cat had trebled in size over one hundred years. How quickly life evolved, he thought.

                  It was easy to drift into thought in Mnem's company, she was still staring, her eyes unfocused, it was the sparrow that shook them out of their reveries,  the hen pounced from her collarbone at a fly bumping at the window.

                "Oh! " She said and opened the door giggling. The sparrow hurtled out, darting at flies. Mnem followed and Macka watched. How could she possibly get on in a new world? She would not revert to a feral human state and regain lost abilities. She would rely heavily on drones for her needs, if she remembered how to use them.  He hoped she remembered to get into the van's cabin and lock up when the alarm was given to her. The cabin would detach from the van under duress and become a life capsule. It was incredibly durable and could withstand enormous pressures. Not unlike the cylinders at the kids school, only a fifth the size.  He got out of the car, he had shown her how it drove but he worried she would forget. He was still worrying when he walked away without saying goodbye, calling for a pick up just outside Ballarat.

Mnem spent an hour amongst the tough Iron Bark trees of the Victorian bush. She touched the black scab like bark thinking, these trees know how to be hard. The sparrow was not at home here, she was a city dweller. The heat had subsided yet the hen panted and had found its way back to Mnem's collarbone. They returned to the van. The man had gone.

                "How does this work again?" Mnem asked the hen, and smiled. "We'll figure it out!" It didn't take long, once she was in the drivers seat she pressed a button that was labelled 'on'. The button changed to 'off' when the powerful engine bellowed. Easy enough, she thought. The van was automatic, and the man had said it would drive for thousands of kilometres, for weeks, if you thought in time,  before needing petrol. At some point it would though, but Mnem thought she would worry about that then. The man had gone on to say that petrol was a con, an engine could operate on the gasses produced by the liquid fuel and only take the actual juice when it had to. She had nodded as if she kind of got it, but they both knew she didn't, not really. The man had said lots of things, but most of what he said she had ignored, well not quite, but put aside. She could probably recall information if she had to. She gunned the engine and dove into Ballarat.

                 The old goldmining city was not in good shape. There didn't seem to be much of a police presence, there was signs of anarchy on the main street and where once there had been a hotel that had served beer to miners, there was a gathering of malcontents. They all turned their heads at the strange pale blue campervan that powerfully drove passed. There was at first admiration, and then a ripple of jealousy. Some glimpsed the pale faced dark haired girl driving and a few whistled. More eyes watched Mnem drive up Sturt Street. She accidently accelerated,  watching the sparrow flit around rather than the road, she was oblivious to the people watching her. When she turned arbitrarily, she headed inland. She did not notice two four by fours streak, then pace after her.