The author acknowledges the invaluable pre-publication copy-editing performed by Chris Bellamy.

Day 2 — Saturday 26th June 2060 — Afternoon

It’s 22:00 and here I am back in my flat. This afternoon brought two unexpected encounters, the second one very unexpected.

It took me a while to write up the events of this morning and I am still processing them. The pre-2030 picture that Old George drew was far worse than I thought it was. I knew about the pandemic and the threat from climate change, but all the rest was new to me and most of it was terrible. What a state our country, and the world, had been in! How could things ever have got to that stage?

I have decided to find out more about that time, but quite how, apart from talking to George, escapes me. As I have implied before, the archive gives us just the facts it wants us to know and doesn’t mention those that don’t agree with its narrative. Before our conversation, I hadn’t realised quite what a risk George and I were taking in the library. I hoped George was right in his analysis of the surveillance there. Could I even trust George? What worried me most, though, was Philip Seaton. What was he doing in the flat next to me? George’s stories had made that event even more unsettling.

I didn’t finish writing until 15:00, by which time I was hungry. So I headed up to the cafe, which is open all day. Time for a coffee and a snack to carry me through till dinner. My normal table next to the window was available, so I sat down there with my drink and sandwich. I had my tablet with me for my research.

As always when I sat there I spent a few minutes looking out of the window. I could see the forecourt of the block right below me. It was all concrete and contained several out-buildings, the purpose of which I didn’t know. More frustrating, though, was the high wall that surrounded the Block. It was no doubt there to keep any danger out, but it was also very successful at stopping me, or anybody else, from seeing anything of the world beyond it, even from this top floor.

As I watched the maintenance workers moving between the out-buildings, the old question returned: how did they reach the forecourt? The lifts didn’t stop at floors 28 or 29, and I had never seen anyone use the only door on this level. That was across the cafe from me and it had a keypad beneath the handle. It must be there for a purpose.

With a sigh, I switched on my tablet and started my research. I wanted to know more about the wars that George had mentioned. Were they still going on? Was the UK involved? Had they ever been involved? Had the Government kept their promise: left all military alliances and declared our country neutral? The Government did broadcast news, but it was mostly about the progress of climate change and the pathogens they said pervaded the atmosphere outside of the Blocks. They had never mentioned any wars. It stood to reason that there must be more going on in the world than just the battles against the climate and the pathogens. Had other countries locked their citizens down like we had? What happened to the people in the UK and possibly elsewhere who had chosen to stay outside? Was the UK even still the United Kingdom?

I was deep into news reports from 2027 and they were grim. There were wildfires all over Europe. Drought was everywhere and old people were dying from heat-exhaustion. The emergency services couldn’t cope. They were just not geared up for it. Suddenly, I heard a very strange sequence of clicks — six of them. I looked up and saw Philip Seaton standing in front of that door, his fingers hovering over the keypad. After a short interval there was a much louder click and Seaton pulled down the door handle. The door opened and he stepped through. The door shut quickly behind him with a final, substantial click.

I carried on staring at that door for a minute or two, contemplating why Seaton may be going through it. It wouldn’t be to access the inter-Block underground railway, which, I understand, is right down on the first floor at the bottom of the building. I have never had reason to go down there, but Jane has mentioned it in passing. I decided that the purpose of the door must be to get down to the two floors below and possibly to a door to the outside and that the maintenance workers all lived on floors 28 and 29. Otherwise I would surely have seen people pass through that door before.

I was still looking at the door when Seaton re-emerged. He saw me watching him and came over to my table. “Well, Mr Williams,’ he said, “we meet again.”

“We do,” I replied, “I’ve never seen that door used before. Where does it lead to?”

“To some stairs down to the two floors below. As you know, the lifts don’t stop at those floors. Without that door there wouldn’t be any way of getting from the general living areas below ground to floors 28 and 29. As you also know, I am living below ground at the moment. I use that door because I need to get to floor 28 to speak to the maintenance workers.”

“I see. I was beginning to think that myself. I’ve been living here my entire life, but I’ve never seen that door used before. I was curious.”

It surprised me that Seaton could be so open, but what he said next surprised me even more. “Why don’t you come down to floor 28 with me now, Mr Williams?”, he asked. “Then you can see for yourself. We have nothing to hide.”

My confusion must have shown on my face, as he continued, “You look worried. Don’t be. I’m not going to kidnap you. I’m here to look into the disappearance of your neighbour Peter Evans. We need to find out how somebody can disappear from one of the Blocks without trace, as he managed to do.”

“OK,” I responded. “Let’s do that.”

Not quite believing what was happening, I picked up my tablet and followed him to the door. He stood between me and the number pad as he entered the security number and then held the door open and ushered me through.

The passage we entered was as well-lit as the room we had just left, and as clean, but Spartan and undecorated. In front of us was a staircase which Seaton led me down. The staircase came to an end on floor 28 in a passage. We walked along it for several yards until we came to another door. Through that was a large room where several people were working, at what I couldn’t tell. Telling me to stay where I was, Seaton walked over and talked to them, leaving me alone. We were directly under the cafe, so the room had an outer wall, with windows in it! Without even thinking I ran to one of the windows and looked out. I saw the same forecourt as I had from the cafe, but now I was level with the ground. I couldn’t see any maintenance workers this time. I stood for at least a minute staring out that window.

Suddenly, a face popped up staring straight at me. It belonged to a boy of about eleven or twelve and he was as surprised to see me as I was to see him. He quickly ducked down below the window and ran behind one of the out-buildings. It was only then that I realised that he hadn’t been wearing the standard orange suit.

Before I could think about this further, Seaton returned. He clearly hadn’t noticed the boy. If anybody else in the room had, they weren’t mentioning it. I saw no reason to tell anybody about him.

I followed Seaton back upstairs quietly. He was saying something, but I have no recollection what it was. He left me and I returned to my table. I looked out the window for the boy, but I didn’t see him.

Continued here