Two weeks later
“ Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear To — om, Happy birthday to you…? ”
Tom was a very heavy sleeper. Waking up in the morning was a daily ritual which took a long time. The four looked down at the sleeping mass. It hadn’t moved. They looked at each other and began the chorus again, only much louder.
“Errrh, wh….what is it? What’s happening?” came a muffled voice from under the duvet.
“It’s time to wake up, it’s your Birthday!! You’re thirteen!!” shouted his father.
The words slowly sank in. He was thirteen. It was his birthday. He pulled the duvet back and looked up at the four grinning faces staring back at him, his mother, father, Saki and Lela.
They all rushed forward and gave him hugs and kisses as they wished him a happy birthday.
“Thanks,” said Tom as he recovered from the tuneless wake up call.
“Come on, open your pressies!” said Lela, pointing to the pile of gifts on the end of his bed.
“Coooo-oool”! “Fantastic!” “Tha — anks” was all that was heard for the following ten minutes as he opened each of the presents. Along with the usual suspects, albums, games, books and clothes, Tom received a bracelet from Saki which had been made especially for him on Penaraja. Saki explained that a similar bracelet was historically worn by emperors hundreds of years earlier and that the person wearing the bracelet was protected by a very powerful force. Tom wasted no time in securing the bracelet to his wrist.
“There’s just one more present,” said Donald.
Tom looked up with a quizzical look. Everything he had wanted or could have asked for was in front of him. What else could there be?
“Here,” said Donald, handing Tom what looked like a remote control.
Tom looked at the small remote with only two buttons.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It’s a surprise,” replied Donald mysteriously.
Tom looked around his bedroom, hoping to find a receiver for the signal but could not see anything. He pressed the button marked 1. Nothing happened. He pressed Button 2. Nothing happened. He looked up at the sniggering audience.
“Can I at least have a clue?” he asked.
“OK,” replied Lela. “You’re very cold.”
Tom looked at Lela as he got up and walked around his room.
“Still very cold,” said Lela.
He walked into the hallway.
“Warmer,” she said.
He continued down the hallway, past the elevator door and towards the games room. Nobody followed.
“Getting colder,” called out Donald from Tom’s doorway.
Tom walked back to the elevator door.
“Warmer,” said Lela.
Tom pressed the call button and the elevator doors opened. He stepped in and was quickly joined by the others. His finger hovered over the First Floor button.
“Cold,” said Lela.
He moved his finger down to the Ground Floor button.
“Slightly warmer,” said Lela.
His finger moved to the Basement button.
“Very warm,” said Lela smiling.
He pressed the button and the doors soon opened onto the vast basement complex beneath the Kennedy Estate. The estate itself covered over 20 square miles of Scottish countryside on the banks of Loch Lomond and was a mere twenty minutes by helicopter from Glasgow, the Global HQ of Alba International, his father’s company
Donald had purchased the estate on his return from honeymoon fourteen years earlier. The events leading to Tylanni’s death had unleashed a fanatical obsession about security which, over the years, had only increased as his family and wealth had grown.
The corridor they stepped into was almost identical to the one they had left behind, richly decorated and carpeted. The only difference was the lack of natural light, unsurprising at fifty feet below ground level.
Tom, still in his pyjamas, looked at his father for more clues. There were miles of tunnels which linked all the buildings on the estate as well as numerous garages, housing his father’s collection of cars. They had also installed a number of emergency bunkers and a fifty seat state-of-the art cinema. His father just smiled back. He wasn’t going to give anything away.
More in frustration than in the belief that anything would happen, Tom hit button ‘1’ again. A noise to his right alerted him to something moving. As he turned towards the noise, a panel opened in the wall, revealing a dark space. Tom felt around the edges for some kind of light switch but there was nothing.
“Try the second button?” suggested Lela excitedly.
He moved into the centre of the opening and pressed the second button. The dark hole exploded into light as giant lamps lit the void. In the centre of a large hangar stood a white structure with four hydraulic legs, a staircase and a walkway.
Tom was speechless. He just stared open mouthed at the brilliant white structure.
“Well, what do you think?” asked Donald as he watched Tom’s face.
Tom couldn’t stop staring at the structure.
“It’s un — believa — ble…I mean WOW! Unbelievable!! A simulator!!! You got me a simulator!!! I can’t believe it!!!”
Tom loved flying and everything to do with it. He didn’t need to be told anything about the structure in front of him, he knew everything about it. He was staring at a CAE simulator for the new Airbus A380, the largest commercial jet ever built. AlbAir, his father’s airline had just completed a deal for thirty A380s and Alba International had purchased one for Donald which Tom had already christened ‘Alba One’.
“Go on then, get flying!” said Donald pointing Tom in the direction of the staircase.
Tom didn’t need to be asked twice.
“Come on Lela, come with me!” he shouted as he sprinted up the stairs. As she followed apprehensively, Tom was already bursting into the cockpit where he found the final part of his birthday present. The Captain’s seat was occupied. The test pilot from the A380’s inaugural test flight was waiting to give him his first lesson. Captain Jacques Rosay would be spending the next few weeks teaching Tom everything he knew.