‘HOLY COW, WHOSE BLOOD IS THAT?

(inaudible)

‘HERA DID WHAT?’

(inaudible)

‘OH GOD, THE MAN’S NEVER GONNA BE ABLE TO HAVE CHILDREN.’

(inaudible)

‘Oh, yeah, I suppose that’s probably a good thing.’

****

We sold Balls’ jewellery, we paid our bills. We bought some fruit trees. But we also didn’t leave the house over the weeks that followed. Every day we expected police, or Crusher security guards to show up and take us off to cells.

Then, finally, we got a knock on our front door.

It wasn’t the sort of knock that police use – brisk and official, it wasn’t the sort of knock Crusher used – ramming the door down, it was more subtle, more wondering is anyone home?

We all looked at each other. We’d been sitting on the floor eating burgers. Hera took a deep breath and stood up.

‘I’ll get it.’

Astra, Kauri and I glanced at each other.

‘We should go see,’ Kauri said, and I nodded, ‘Yeah. Hell. She could get...’

By that point, Hera was already at the door and swinging it open. We couldn’t hear who was outside, but we heard her scream.

Astra and I rushed towards her while Kauri stopped to pick up a skateboard. I got to the door and pushed through to see Hera with her arms around Victor's neck. In a hug that made Victor, who was trying to push his glasses up his face, very uncomfortable.

'Holy shit!' I laughed, 'It's you, Victor. I can't believe...'

Astra and I laughed, then joined them for a big four-way hug. Victor awkwardly patted me on the back, 'Good to see you Eli.'

'Yeah – good of you to finally show up after how many months of sending people my way?'

Victor finally succeeded in pushing his glasses up his nose, 'I hoped you wouldn't mind, there were so many of them that had nowhere to go and now there'll be even more...'

But Victor didn't get to finish his sentence as an enraged Kauri came charging out with a skateboard raised above his head, 'LET HER GO,' he shouted at the top of his voice then came to a stop as he realised no one was in danger and Hera was laughing at him.

'Who's this?' Kauri said defensively.

'Kauri,' Hera said, 'This is Q, the mastermind, the man who got us all out of prison Crusher.'

Kauri nodded slowly.

'For a while, I thought I was that guy.'

Hera ruffled his hair, 'Of course, you both helped get us out, you did your lawyer thing and got us out that way. Victor was on the inside doing all this stealthy hacking stuff.'

Victor lowered his head, 'It's a pleasure Kauri. I've heard many good things.'

Kauri nodded, although his eyes were still a little dark, 'Likewise.'

'Victor,' I said, 'Are you going to be here long, because if so we've got-'

'- no probably not that long, I just thought I'd stop by and tell you that...' he let out a little gleeful burst of laughter, '...I thought I'd tell you that Crusher Media is finished.'

****

I blinked, swallowed, frowned, gave an unsure grin, crossed my arms, uncrossed them and tapped my feet – all the things that one does when you're unsure about what you've just heard.

'Crusher Media is finished?!' I said.

Victor nodded, 'Well technically it'll be a month until the court cases are finished, but yeah. They should be all wrapped up within about 30 days.'

Astra and I raised our eyebrows at each other.

Kauri leant over to Hera, 'Is this guy serious?'

Hera gestured her thumb to our backyard, 'Victor, we have a paddling pool out back, plus beers, and what you've just said makes no sense to me. I think you'd better stay until you’ve explained yourself.'

Victor held up his hands, he was giggling again, 'I can't argue with that.'

We moved to the paddling pool – a fairly small contraption that we'd bought for $10 plus some flex tape. It was a writer's dream – high enough so you'd stay cool in the sun, but low enough that you could fit a little table over your legs and write to your heart's content.

I grabbed a can of cider out of the pool, flicked it open and then clinked it with Victor's soda can, 'So, Crusher is finished?'

He nodded, 'The same day we got you your 20 million views – while all the IT staff were busy trying to work out what was going on, I slipped into their network and planted a few lightweight bots that did nothing except collect data.' Victor threw his head back and rays of the sun shone on his face like he was an angel in one of those renaissance paintings, 'It was good data, holy data, the sort of data that could end the reign of emperors, let alone leaders of companies.'

Victor winked, 'I've been forwarding the data on to a law team I've built up on the outside, they've been building a case and we’re 50% sure that Balls is going to get a lifetime in jail.'

'Only 50%?' Kauri scoffed, 'That's not enough! That guy's got money – he’s definitely paying people off. He'll be free in a week.'

Victor shook his head, 'Oh no, no, no... what I'm saying is he's got a 50% chance of life in jail - and a 50% chance of getting the death sentence.’

We all swallowed, 'Really?'

‘Really.' he said, 'Eli. Did you know that only 0.36% of people made it out of those initial concrete cells you were put in?'

I felt my heart start to speed up, as I imagined the concrete walls, the lack of food, the reek of the concrete, how beaten up my tablet had been, how many people had been there before me and how many people had died there, starved, dehydrated to death.

I could feel Astra's hand on my knee. I realized I was shivering. I could feel the nightmare of what I'd escaped sinking over me. I could feel tears burning at the corner of my eye. I used the palm of my hand to smudge them.

'How many people is that Victor?'

Victor just shook his head, 'I don't know. I don't think we'll ever know. My bots only caught the last 10,243. A heap of them were little more than kids. The moment they turned 18 they were thrown into a cage and told to write.' Victor shook his head, 'They wore their skin loose, and their bones stuck out like... like...' Victor started to cry.

I took a deep breath, ran a hand down his back, 'Thanks Victor, for doing what you did.'

Victor stood up, water glistened off him, ‘Now that I’ve said that, it’s time to go. This is the last thing I had to do before-'

'-Victor,' I said, 'Feel free to stay. We could definitely use someone with your tech abilities-'

But Victor was just shaking his head as he dried off with one of our holey towels.

'This is a lovely place you've got here Eli, but I want nothing to do Crusher Media, or writing ever again. I don't have much of a plan – all I want is to travel far, far away.'

Hera stood and hugged him.

'Hey Victor,’ Astra said as she stepped up to hug him goodbye, 'We never asked and you never told us, but why did you give up all those years to bringing down Crusher Media? You were on the outside, living your life, but you chose to get sent there. Why?'

For the first time in my life, I saw a single tear in Victor's eye. His chest heaved back and forth, he wiped his nose... 'I - I -'

Astra took his hands, they were shaking.

'I lost someone,' he said, 'I lost someone very special.'

He got out of the pool and stood there, water dripping off him like tears.

'What was her name?' said Kauri softly.

Victor shook his head, pulled his shirt, then jacket over his head, he knotted the laces of his shoes while we all watched in silence.

Finally, he pulled a folded piece of photo paper from his pocket. He was clutching it so tightly the paper was bending and wrinkling, Victor took three loud breaths, then shook his head a final time.

'I guess... I guess it's time.' and then he nodded, 'Yeah, time to let go, Victor.'

He handed the folded piece of paper to me and walked away.

It was then that I saw Victor 3.0.

The first Victor I'd met – Victor 1.0 had been an act – a man obsessed with gaining popularity, Victor 2.0 – Q – was a man analytical and focused in his quest for justice. But the Victor that walked away from us had loose shoulders, a slight spring to his step, his was the walk of a free man. I turned the paper in my hand. The fold marks were slightly coloured and worn thin from use. I gently unfolded the photograph and there, smiling back at me...

...was a picture of Kate Wilder.