4.3: A first sign of the modifications

On the day that her bandage is due to come off, Lottie wakes to find herself nose to nose with one of the peas. Might it be Kurt? It might be Roland. She can never tell Kurt from Roland. No one can.

He seems quite keen for her to go outside and so, taking her own bandage off without waiting for Alcock’s rough and ready army-based medical supposed know-how, she follows the eager pea outside, through some woods and, when it is somehow suggested, she stops and looks ahead. 

She sees some tide-worn round stones. But then she also sees eyes. Suddenly, inside her own head, she feels a message: 

“There have been modifications to nature. The stones have awakened! They must be sent back to sleep.” 

Lottie knows that the Pod is telepathic. That is how, via her minion-pea Tiffany-Anne, she can be part of the Potting Shed Steering Committee, which Alcock was so keen to set up. (The Pod and Florence the Cat are two of the more mysterious outside governors who add some gravitas to what might otherwise look like a shabby commune of unemployed creatures merely squatting in a shed to avoid owning property or even paying rent like proper citizens.*) But she has never experienced telepathy before. 

Whether it is Kurt or Roland or the Pod herself speaking, Lottie hears the instruction clearly and heads quickly back to see the Potting Shed Committee Chair.

*Since the issue of the Potting Shed’s committee structure was first broached in 2.6, many readers have written in to request a diagram of the structure and all the details and terms and conditions of the various sub-committees. After much work by Chairman Alcock, ‘patron-level’ subscribers will be receiving the complete pack in the next few days.