Chapter 12

"Australian Skydiving Association. What's Skydiving?"

Sarah, Jill and Eddie were in the Jeep, heading along the freeway down to Sydney for the day, and Sarah was practicing reading all the signs as they went by. Jill leaned forward so that Sarah could hear her and explained what skydiving was, pointing to a parachute up above them as a skydiver came down. "Sounds like a lot of fun, I want to have a go some time." This time it was Eddie and Jill with the incredulous expressions on their faces.

Sarah laughed at them. After all that had happened the night before, she was starting to really accept that she was stuck here. Being here was going to be a huge challenge in so many ways, but one thing was for sure, there was so much new and interesting stuff to experience, and she was going to make the most of it.

Take school, for example. Sarah didn't really know what school was about, but she figured that she couldn't make up for missing ten years of school in a few weeks, even if she was reading everything she could get hold of. So she expected that lots of the other kids would think she was stupid, and she wouldn't do very well at school. But it wouldn't matter, it would be like Jill and Eddie playing volleyball. They were just happy to get what they could, knowing they were doing their best. That's how Sarah would take school. And life, for that matter. But since what she could get appeared to include Eddie, it didn't really matter what else there was; Eddie was more than enough.

Eddie took the route that passed the airport as they headed into downtown Sydney. Sarah had seen planes before, and Eddie had told her what they were, but it hadn't prepared her for the sight of a fully loaded jumbo taking off. Eddie had parked by the side of the airport, and Sarah turned to the others in wonder after the jet noise had abated. "You tried to explain, but I had no idea. It's so huge."

"That's right, four hundred people on it. That one's probably going to London."

"London? Like where my mum came from? How long will it take to get there?"

"It'll get there about when you wake up tomorrow."

Sarah looked at Eddie with disbelief. Everything he'd told her so far had been true, but that was just impossible to believe. It had taken her mother eight months, and this aeroplane thing could do it in less than a day?

"It'll get there at dawn tomorrow?"

"No, actually, it will be evening today when it gets there."

This led to Eddie explaining all about time zones, and then about jet lag. By the time they'd finished explaining that, Sarah believed him about how long it would take for the plane to get to London, and she also understood why she'd fallen asleep so early the first few days in this time.

Eddie parked near Redfern Station, and they bought tickets for the City Circle line. Sarah was looking around as much as she could, intrigued with what she could see; the tall city buildings they were getting closer to, the mystifying signs she was reading all the time, and most of all, the people around her. It was early Saturday morning, and Eddie had told her that there wouldn't be many people around. She didn't really understand this notion of Saturday being different to any other day, and she hated to think what it be would like if there were many people around. But then she was distracted by something new.

There was an old man lying on the side of the footpath. He was the first person Sarah had seen who looked like he belonged in her time, rather than this time. With his hair, his skin, and his old clothes, he looked just like an old ex-convict facing his last few days. She'd seen enough of them in her old time. She stopped.

"Eddie..." The old man looked up at her, and she froze. He was so sad, she could see that he knew his fate. Her heart broke. How could someone end up like this when everyone was so rich? Was no one prepared to help this man? It went against everything she'd learnt, everything she'd grown up with. Convicts had to help each other out, or the Marines would kill them all.

Eddie grabbed Sarah and hustled her past the man. "Sarah, you can't fix the world. You can't get involved with these people."

"So you're just going to leave him there, no one's going to help him?"

"Sarah, if he wanted help, he could get it. There's lots of help, but he's drunk himself stupid, and now no one can help him anymore."

Sarah thought about that. She'd sure seen people drink themselves stupid. Though she didn't realise it, she'd seen a lot more of it that Eddie would ever believe, partly because of the extremely poor quality of beer, whisky, and gin - all that the convicts could get in her time - and partly because many convicts had little hope for themselves. And there wasn't a lot you could do for them. It was a form of gradual suicide, but still, there was no way that anyone would let them sleep on the side of the road like that. "What do you mean, there's lots of help for him?"

While they waited for the train, Eddie explained how the modern semi-socialist society worked. There was a lot that Sarah didn't follow, like usual, but she did learn that some people were missing out on the abundance that was available now, and that since the government was mandated to care for them, most people didn't see it as their problem. Well, Sarah wasn't going to forget them, though she didn't exactly know what that really meant, what she would actually do.

She wasn't used to the train, the way that she got thrown around, so she held on tightly to Eddie, and let him worry about it, much to Jill's amusement. They got off the train at Circular Quay and took the escalator down to ground level, and then walked out onto the quay. Sarah looked around and gasped in surprise.

She knew exactly were she was: she'd stood on the beach at this spot many times. Looking out at the harbour to her right, she could see what used to be Bennelong's Island, and to the right, she could see what they'd called The Rocky Point. It was so familiar, and yet, oh how different it was. Only now did she truly understand the might and arrogance of this time. The beach was gone, instead there was a series of docks from which huge boats were loading and unloading people. From above the top of Rocky Point, a massive stone and steel bridge reached all the way across Port Jackson. Looking up to the top of the bridge, she could see people, like ants, climbing up to the top of the bridge. Behind her were many buildings, towering into the sky. And over on Bennelong's Island, there was an amazing building made up of sweeping curves. Eddie told her its name was the Opera House.

Sarah started walking towards the Opera House, and laughed. Eddie and Jill gave her a questioning look. "This is just so rad. I remember this place, but not like this. All these buildings, that huge bridge. You have no idea what an incredible sight this is, how much power it shows. It's so far beyond what anyone could've dreamed of in my time. It's just so amazing."

Eddie laughed to himself. She had called it "rad". Soon you wouldn't know that she didn't come from this time.

They walked around the Opera House, Sarah describing all the spots she knew to Eddie and Jill. "This used to be an island. Bennelong used to live just here, and he taught me to fish."