#NaNoWriMo 2017: Day Nineteen
High Dependency
The previous chapters can be found here: https://medium.com/high-dependency
Chapter Nineteen
“How do I get in?” asked Frankie, her voice slightly muffled by the dome as she walked around the circular perimeter. “Oh, it’s OK. I’ve got it” she said, as she located a pentagonal door.
“Welcome to my humble abode” said Arno.
“Should I take my shoes off?” Frankie asked, spotting a few pairs of muddy outdoor footwear lying near the front door.
“Nah, don’t bother”
“Oh wow, this is really amazing, Arno. The roof is beautiful” said Frankie, admiring the criss-cross pattern of triangles silhouetted against the bright sky.
“Yeah, it was a fun project”
“And you built it all yourself?”
“Pretty much. The hardest thing was finding a supplier of the 5-way joints. Then it was all just a case of cut and glue”
“Are you pleased with it?” asked Frankie.
“Yes and no. It’s too hot in summer and not great in winter. Also, there’s surprisingly little space in here considering the size of the footprint of the building” Arno replied.
“I guess that’s because you’ve got this square room inside a circular area”
“Without the privacy curtain, even with opaque plastic sheet you’d still end up putting on a shadow show for the whole world to see, projected onto the outside of the building at night”
“On the night I arrived I could see the top of the dome glowing in the field. It’d be quite a thing if the whole thing was lit up” said Frankie.
“Yeah, but that wouldn’t be a place you’d really want to live in” said Arno.
“So you’re going to move out?”
“Yeah. We can have this place as a heated greenhouse”
“It seems like a shame. I mean, whenever anybody thinks of communes they always think of geodesic domes, right? This place is so iconic” said Frankie, casting her eyes up at the structure above her.
“I guess we’re going to have to be iconic for different reasons. We’re going to be a Bronze Age eco village rather than a Space Age Buckminster Fuller inspired experiment” said Arno.
“Ha ha, you’re going to be a living museum”
“I think we’re going to have to do something ‘culturally significant’ with an educational angle to convince the planning officers that our project has some merit in the local community” said Arno, making quotation marks with her fingers and rolling her eyes.
“Hey, the alternative is that the housing crisis is solved and everybody gets to live happily without spending most of their income on rent. These local council bureaucrats are doing an important job!” joked Frankie.
“So, where were you living before this?”
“Faslane Peace Camp. There’s a permanent demonstration at the Faslane naval base. Some anti-nuclear protestors have lived there since 1982”
“Yeah I’ve heard of it. So you were living in a tent?”
“No, there’s a load of caravans. Living in a tent would be pretty grim in Scotland”
“Living in a tent is pretty grim in the south of England too” said Arno, laughing. “I know — I had to do it for three months”
“It sounds like going to music festivals all summer”
“Yeah except the toilets are better”
“Those Portaloos are GRIM after only a day” said Frankie, wrinkling her nose.
“So how do you know Laken?” asked Arno.
“She came up to Faslane when we were blockading the gates. There was a convoy coming in from Aldermaston. People travelled from all over the country and we managed to hold things up for six hours”
“Six hours doesn’t sound like much”
“That was our most successful blockade! We all got arrested, of course” said Frankie, dismissively.
“Happened to me and Laken down in Plymouth” said Arno.
“Devonport?”
“Yeah”
“No nukes down there”
“No. Just nuclear powered submarines”
“You know that nuclear energy is quite clean, right?” asked Frankie.
“Well, if you don’t count the uranium mining, enrichment and dealing with the nuclear waste, I guess you’re right. Anyway, it’s war that I’m against” Arno replied.
“So you don’t agree with Laken’s more militant approach?”
“It’s a buzz being with her when she’s got her mission in mind but I never thought I’d end up getting into trouble with the police”
“You’ve been caught up in some of her mad capers, have you?” asked Frankie.
“Well, not really. When I went to Devonport I just thought I was going to wave my placard and jeer some slogans. I didn’t think I was going to end up getting arrested” replied Arno.
“But you were swept along by Laken’s infectious enthusiasm?”
“Yeah. I didn’t plan on getting so involved. I thought I had legal immunity — the right to peacefully protest”
“You got carried away in the heat of the moment?”
“I just got carried away in the heat of the moment, your honour” said Arno, batting her eyelids and simpering sweetly.
“You loved it. It was a rush” said Frankie.
“It was. I admit it”
“So what do you do for kicks around here?”
“What do you mean?” asked Arno.
“You know. Drugs. Sex. The usual. Molly and Jan are a cute couple aren’t they? Oh man, I wish I was young like them. I bet they’re shagging like bunnies”
Arno’s face fell.
“Oh shit. You didn’t know?” asked Frankie.
The next chapter can be found here: https://medium.com/high-dependency
