The Mammoth Book of New Jules Verne Adventures by Mike Ashley & Eric Brown (eds)

Author:Mike Ashley & Eric Brown (eds) [Ashley, Mike & Brown, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Robinson
Published: 2011-07-20T07:00:00+00:00

5

In which the risen come, blinking, into the sunlight

All returned to normal in Sunny Meadows. The altercation at Dr Bull’s little demonstration was soon put aside as Messers Green and Darley resumed their amicable acquaintance by vee. Nicholas van Pommel’s outburst in the doctor’s study was easily forgotten, as Maddy would tell no-one, although she stored the memory of her friend’s animation for moments of personal recollection.

Maddy had signed up for ExerThighsTM classes, every Wednesday in the Sunny Meadows Amenity Centre, starting this week. She drove there, telling the car to park as close as she could get, and then went into the building. There were lots of kids here, and for a moment she thought she had come to the wrong place. They stood around in small, grunting groups, heads hung low, eyes glazed from too much vee. Then she remembered that there were games sessions today, too, and she understood why they were here: while she was upstairs thumping about to some ancient disco beat, these kids would be playing shoot-’em-ups on the vee. It got them out of the house, she supposed.

She went up and was dismayed to see Nicholas’s personal assistant, Tracy Wordsworth, already changed and limbering up. She almost turned and left, but then Tracy saw her and smiled and it was too late, she was committed.

It was murder! If this was what it took to get down to a slim ninety kilos like Tracy then maybe Maddy would be better off sticking to her natural weight. After barely five minutes she hurt. Deep inside, her muscles were trembling with the effort of moving and stretching in ways the body just wasn’t designed for.

“It gets easier every time,” Tracy reassured her, as Maddy resorted to watching from the side.

Thank goodness for the cakes. Or rather, thank goodness for Dr Bull’s new NutriMentPlus, which was being trialled in the Amenity Centre today. It knew exactly what she wanted, and almost as soon as the interval started, Maddy was drawing deeply on a toffee-cream smoothy (with extra choc-shavings). She looked around at the shabby interior of the gym. The high windows showed blue sky. She remembered the feelings of being uncontained when she was outdoors, and she remembered the taste of the air. “I’m going outside,” she told Tracy. Fresh air would be far more beneficial than sitting here feeling guilty and looking at svelte young women doing things she could only dream of. You could get that on the vee, after all.

Tracy hesitated, then said, “I think I’ll join you. If you don’t mind, that is.”

Maddy smiled. It was a mad kind of day. Things were just happening, unplanned, unpondered.

Out in the main concourse, the kids seemed to have given up on their games early. They were drifting out of the great darkened rooms lit only by vee screens and going . . . outside. The ExerThighsTM escapees followed.

“It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?” said Tracy.

Maddy looked around. It was. The air and sun were good. This was far better than sitting in the gym and feeling bad.

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