Page 119 of Crocodile Tears

“Is it true you were off your head on croc when you crashed the duck, Alex?”

They swarmed in on him, and he looked around for help. Noah had escaped into the waiting AV ahead. Maybe he didn’t know his son was trapped behind him, cornered by the press.

“Dad! Wait… Dad. Please…” he called. But his father sat in the AV, looking straight ahead, ignoring him.

Tripping over someone’s foot, he fell onto one of the cameras and cut his lip, hurting his injured thigh as he went down. Yelping, he pressed his hand over it, trying to ease the pain. Hauling himself up, he limped pathetically over to the AV. He saw people he knew, friends of his mother, clustered over to one side, watching, but none of them came to his aid.

He put his hand in his pocket and clutched the scarf tightly, the familiar feel of the silk steadying him. He battled the last few yards to the waiting duck and climbed inside.

“Didn’t you hear me calling for help?” he asked his father, pressing his handkerchief to his bleeding lip as he sat down.

“You have to get used to the press,” Noah replied impassively. “They’ll be like this until the trial – and probably after, as well – until all the fuss has died down.”

“I won’t go out unless I have to, then.” He knew that he’d lost any right to his father’s affection, but he resolved to win it back, no matter what. “I’ll stay inside and study. I’ll pass all of my exams – I’ll get good enough grades to do that art and design degree at Oxford so I can become a designer at Lytton AV. I’ll work really hard, I promise.”

His father shot him a withering stare. “That degree is a waste of time. You’ll study business.”

“You promised me I could study art and design.”

“And you promised me that you wouldn’t take croc,” Noah snapped.

Alex swallowed hard and grasped his mother’s scarf tightly in his fist. “Okay. Business. That’s fine. I can be good at that, too.”

Noah gazed at him stonily. “We’ll see.”

Now, Alex could see that no matter how hard he tried, his father was never going to forgive him for the accident. In return, he was never going to forgive Noah for abandoning him to cope with his mother’s death alone. Their relationship was over, had been for years – he was simply waking up to that fact now. He wiped away the crocodile tears with his sleeve. His father belonged to the past – George Tyler was the future.

Tyler’s workshop was a massive, hangar-like space near his house in Lewes. He was waiting there with a bottle of champagne when Alex arrived for his first day. A team of engineers, all wearing smart black livery overalls and Tyler Tech ID tags, stood to one side, like an army of worker ants.

“Welcome!” Tyler gestured at his workshop. “It’s good to have you here.” He popped the champagne cork, poured out two glasses, and handed one over. “Here’s to the flying duck,” he said, holding up his drink.

“It doesn’t actually fly,” Alex protested as he chinked his glass against Tyler’s.

Tyler winked. “You will, though, Alex – you’ll fly here; I’ll make sure of that. Now – firstly… this is for you.” He gave Alex a pad.

“I’ve already got a nanopad,” Alex said, frowning.

“Nanopads are the past. This is a holopad.” Tyler grinned. “They won’t be available to buy for another year, but I pulled some strings to get this one for you.”

“What does it do?” Alex asked, intrigued. Tyler clicked, and a hologram emanated from the pad and hovered in the air in front of him.

“It’s a little bigger than a nanopad, but worth it to live in a 3D world.” Tyler announced.

Alex was entranced – holotech had been steadily progressing for the past few years, but this was on another level, creating realistic 3D images from a relatively small device.

“Thank you,” Alex said sincerely.

“I’ve loaded it with specialist Tyler Tech software, so you can keep me updated on your progress.” Tyler showed him how it worked. “Also, we can holochat; the picture quality is almost as good as if we were in the same room.”

“Wow.” Alex was suitably impressed, but he was itching to get started on the duck project and looked around eagerly.

“I can see your mind is elsewhere.” Tyler laughed. “Come on, then – let me introduce you to everyone.”

Alex’s first couple of weeks whizzed by. He’d never been so busy, going over specs, ordering parts, and getting used to the engineers working on the project. He felt more intimidated by these seasoned old hands than he showed, trying to keep up with their technical jargon by working hard all day and then spending half the night reading up on the Tyler Tech Aquacruise range.

The chief engineer, Mark Trent, was a dark, dour man, who showed no emotion whatsoever. Alex tried not to take his lack of enthusiasm personally, but it was hard to bounce ideas off someone so downbeat. Aware of his own inexperience, he’d hoped for a manager he could lean on, but it soon became clear that Trent wasn’t that person. Alex would have to shoulder ultimate responsibility for the project alone.

Tyler dropped by every few days, but Alex was wary since his conversation with Noah. Every time Tyler visited he asked him to dinner, and every time Alex refused. He kept his head down and got on with the job, keeping the relationship brisk and business-like.

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