Repost: Ledge of Darkness II

[M Holmes]

THE NUMBER OF YOUR CAR'S FED INTO A BOX

"Who else?" Harvey asked.

Dave smiled. "We'll have to go to Glastonbury". "Can you bring your
car?". "Tonight" he added, seriously.

Harvey put together some gear and slid into the car.  He plugged in the
helmet and tuned in.  "Dave's place" he said and the car began to move
off.  He gestured for an outside view.  The city was relatively quiet
with only a few coming out of the late bars.  The days were numbered for
late drinking too.  The Suits had work in the mornings.

Dave was waiting with a pack and his own helmet. Harvey parked on
manual, dropped out, and opened the door.

"Rough night." Dave said. "We'd better get moving".

Harvey used the helmet to set up a route and dropped out again. Removing
the helmet he looked at Dave.

"Richard's there somewhere." Dave answered the unspoken question. "We'll
just have to look for him." "Alan's with some friends. We'll catch up
with him tomorrow."

"What can we do though?  Everything but hymns will be illegal by the end
of the week."

"Defying authority isn't exactly new for us. And it needs doing. It's our
people that are under attack here and they need a symbol. We're it."

"The authority in question here is the government, and it's backed up by
a hell of a lot of technology. They'll be watching us."

"Technology. Yeah. We just might have a few surprises in store for 'em.
Wait'll we see Alan tomorrow."

Approaching the Glastonbury site, the car alerted them to the roadblock.
It was the Police of course. They were asked to leave the car open and
were directed over to a hut. The cop got into the car and started a
cursory search.  It was just beginning to get light.

The clerk looked bored and tired.  A screen in the background displayed
an interview with some pol.  A few questions about what they wanted at
the site.  Some forms to fill in and a quick ID check.  Society had to
know who went to the site and put a question mark against them.  Still,
they had to admit, it was unerringly polite and tedious.  And at least
they could confirm that Richard was in there. As the election slogan had
it: Government that was kinder, gentler, and *firm*

They got back into the car and Harvey took it on manual. He hated to see
the walls and barbed wire. Fourteen miles of it, and this was the only
entrance. It used to be the site of a music festival. Back then there
had been quite a few of them, with the Travellers moving between them all
summer. The pols solution hadn't surprised anyone: pick one site and
move the Travellers in there where they could keep an eye on them.
Travellers, with nowhere to go.

Still, they'd arrived. They could smell the woodsmoke and even hear
music. It was still a foreign country in here. They stopped the car and
got out. Someone nearby had to be making some tea.