But nobody cared.
52
After
Darkling’s death was an unspoken curse that filled the silences of the next few days. The Dreadnoughts brought the rest of team Aries back to the academy via a short visit to the medics. No one else was seriously injured, although Michaelmas had to be quarantined after it was found he’d been infected with typhus.
The outcome of their second trial was still under investigation. Although four points had been awarded to Fey for her documentation of the outbreaks, it was small comfort considering their loss. They spent time apart from the others, wandering the grounds or being interviewed by various members of the Xenobiology department.
Everyone voted unanimously to name it after Darkling when the Xenobiologysts asked at the final debriefing.
‘Death is an unwelcome visitor. Harder on those who are left behind than those that pass — you will learn to endure the loss as we all do. One day you will remember these events and appreciate the sacrifice that we must all make for the Order. Ours is the fate of the damned — we cannot falter.’
‘We cannot falter,’ the congregation repeated, the sentiment like a prayer.
Vassili was speaking at Darkling’s memorial. Following Dreadnought tradition it was held in Notre-Dame Cathedral in 11.345, the year he was born. There wasn’t a casket; the Xenos couldn’t extricate the body from the spike without releasing the Wyrrm. The old training master looked tired and genuinely moved by his death — no one had perished at the Academy for over a century, and Vassili was taking it hard. Every member of the Draconian High Command had interviewed him; there was even a rumour that the Protectorate had paid him a visit.
‘Why didn’t they rescue him?’ Bentley muttered to himself as they left the chapel and re-entered the parade ground of the academy.
‘Because the Wyrrm disrupted the timeline, and they had no idea it was coming,’ Caitlin said, putting her arm around Bentley. ‘It’s not your fault. Darkling knew what he was doing.’
Bentley looked like he was about to burst into tears and shrugged off her arm. ‘They’re going to have to retire us now we’re two men down, and his death will have been for nothing!’
Caitlin was about to say something else, but she bit her lip. Josh saw the conflict on her face as Bentley stormed off.
‘He’s going to leave,’ she said, watching him go.
‘No, he won’t. He’s not a quitter.’
‘But he’s right. With a team of ten we’re not going to earn enough points to make the cut. Gemini is going to thrash us.’
Dalton’s team had discovered a new path from the Minaret of Firuzkuh in Afghanistan and succeeded in locating a forgotten Tajik civilisation — which on any other day would have been seen as a great result if it hadn’t been overshadowed by the discovery of the Wyrrm. Josh inadvertently caught Dalton’s eye as he was talking with one of his lieutenants, a boy called Jarius. The arrogant twat turned and came straight towards them.
‘Sorry about Darkling.’ He looked genuinely upset. ‘He was a good man.’
Caitlin and Josh were dumbfounded, ‘thanks,’ was all Caitlin could manage.
‘So I guess this is goodbye, pumpkin,’ Dalton added, stepping closer to Caitlin. ‘With your best man gone you haven’t got a hope. Shame you didn’t take my offer when you had the chance. See you at home in a couple of weeks?’
He leaned forward to kiss her, but she leaned back and kicked him hard between the legs.
‘Piss off, Dalton,’ she growled. ‘Yes, Darkling was good, but stupid too. He reminded me a lot of you, but with more spine. You can take your condolences and stick them where the sun never shines!’
Dalton lay crumpled on to the floor, holding his crotch as she turned and marched off.
53
The Second Cut
In keeping with tradition, the team’s points had been removed from the leaderboard; the final scores from the last three weeks of training were a closely guarded secret. Aries was more than fifteen points behind their nearest competitor when the board had been cleared, and no one had bothered to keep score since.
The mood in the refectory was sombre, the usual banter between the teams tempered by Darkling’s death — his name was gleaming brightly on the wall of honour next to the other fallen Draconians.
Josh scanned through the names of the lost, their golden letters growing more tarnished with age as his eyes scanned up the list. He paused when he came to the entry for Caitlin’s parents:
JULIANA & THOMAS MAKEPIECE, EGYPT 7.320 (M.I.A.)
He wondered what it would have been like to die in the maelstrom, or whether it was even possible. Sim had told him that they couldn’t age because time didn’t exist in there, that nobody really knew what effects it would have on the human body. Someone could come out a thousand years later and still be the same age as when they went in — he called it ’temporal dilation’.
Vassili stepped up onto a table and slammed his staff down so hard the plates jumped. He looked like a man who hadn’t slept for a week. His eyes were red-rimmed, and there was a hoarseness to his voice when he spoke.
‘There have been some,’ — he stared directly at Dalton’s team — ‘that have lobbied for team Aries to be disqualified in light of the losses suffered by their team.’ A chorus of objections rippled around the room. Vassili raised his hand to quiet them. ‘We have consulted the regulations on this and can confirm that there is no issue with their continuation.’ Everyone apart from Gemini showed their appreciation by banging their cups on the table. The old training master continued. ‘Also, having consulted with the Xenobiology department, we have decided that they should be awarded a special dispensation for their contribution to science and the prevention of further pandemic infestation.’
While the other members of the team looked at each other in astonishment and relief, Josh watched Caitlin — they’d got the recognition they deserved, but she didn’t seem too happy about it.
‘Based on this new development, it’s my duty to declare that the teams who will be leaving today are — Cancer and Sagittarius.’
Both teams rose to their feet at the announcement and began to protest. Vassili slammed the end of his staff down impatiently.
‘Your scores are some of the lowest ever recorded for a second quartile, so please have the good grace to leave my academy with what’s left of your dignity and never darken my doors again!’
He stepped off the table and disappeared, leaving the other tutors to deal with the disgruntled team members.
‘So we p-passed?’ Bentley stuttered in disbelief.
‘It appears so.’ Caitlin was glaring at Dalton, who was celebrating Gemini’s first place as the scores were updated on the leaderboard.
‘Don’t really feel like partying,’ mused De’Angelo.
‘Bullshit! Darkling would’ve wanted to go out and get totally wasted!’ declared one of the twins, surprising everyone, as no one could remember him ever speaking before.
‘Yeah, like that time we got trapped in the hold under the boat,’ Bentley agreed.
‘That time you farted you mean?’ De’Angelo waved his hand in front of his face.
Everyone laughed and began recounting their own stories about Darkling.
Caitlin went to console Fey, who looked like she was going to burst into tears again. She’d taken Darkling’s death harder than the others, for obvious reasons.
Josh was very, very drunk. Not so far gone that he couldn’t see straight, but far enough to blur the edges of the last few days.
After the cut, everyone received a twenty-four-hour pass. Some of the other teams came over to invite Aries to join them but were politely declined. Dalton, who was keeping a wide berth from Caitlin, was rumoured to be hosting an impromptu party for Gemini back in his family’s eleventh-century castle — no one bothered to gatecrash.
Aries hadn’t wanted to spend the evening with the others. They’d decided, unanimously, to spend the night together
in one of Darkling’s favourite clubs — the Hellfire, in 11.751.
Located in the ruins of an abbey, the Hellfire was the favourite hangout of the Bohemian and avant-garde of the eighteenth century. The religious surroundings may have explained why the hosts had decided to dress as monks while dispensing generous amounts of a bright green liquid called ‘Absinthe’ into champagne glasses.
The guests were an odd assortment of eighteenth-century high society, with prostitutes and a very exotic collection of dangerous animals leashed to equally ferocious looking circus performers.
‘What do you guys want to do next?’ Josh asked, watching a leopard as it prowled past, chained to a half-naked, heavily tattooed woman.
‘Drink ourselves stupid,’ chimed the twins in unison.
‘No, dance! I want to go dancing!’ Fey got up and dragged Bentley and De’Angelo through a door that was marked: Pacha, Ibiza 11.973.
The Hellfire was run by a retired Draconian artificer who’d ingeniously linked all the most iconic nightclubs together into one of the most unusual venues Josh had ever experienced. There were rooms that led to Woodstock, The Viper room, Hacienda and even The Cavern Club.
Caitlin was sitting opposite Josh on a velvet chaise-longe, absent-mindedly playing with her dragon pendant and sipping a dark liquor the colour of blood. She was wearing a sheer, black dress with a corset pulled tight into her waist, and her short hair accentuated the swan-like curve of her neck. Her eyes were darkly shaded, with Egyptian-style lines drawn into the corners — just like the way she used to.
When the others drifted off with Fey, she came over and sat beside him. ‘Do you think they’d be so happy if they knew the real reason we made the first cut?’
‘Because of your godfather?’
‘Godfather. Shh! It’s supposed to be a secret, remember?’
‘Yeah, sorry, Lisichka.’
She took another drink from a passing monk. ‘Lisichka. It’s quite liberating pretending to be someone else — have you ever thought about it?’
‘No, not really,’ Josh lied. He’d spent his life wishing he could’ve been someone else, at least until he met the colonel.
‘I didn’t — until I met you.’ She waggled her finger at him. ‘The way you look at me, it’s weird, like you’re seeing someone else.’
Josh thought of all the other Caitlins, each one changed by circumstance.
‘I don’t know, you’re pretty much the same person in every version I’ve met. Except maybe the dominatrix — you were seriously mean in that one!’ He smiled at the thought of her in the tight leather uniform.
‘Really? Are you sure you didn’t prefer her?’ she asked, narrowing her eyes.
Josh shook his head. ‘No, she was too extreme. You’re way more normal than her.’
Caitlin pouted. ‘Normal? You mean boring.’
‘Not at all,’ he replied, realising he was on dangerous ground. ‘Just, you know — more like the first version I met.’
‘So, this version of me isn’t quite the same?’
Josh was struggling to find an answer that didn’t dig him deeper into the hole. She’d warned him before about starting this conversation, but it was something that they’d never fully resolved since that evening on the roof.
‘Am I still the girl you’d walk back through nine centuries to find?’
‘It’s not the same. You can’t expect —’
‘Answer the bloody question!’ she interrupted.
Josh was aware other guests were beginning to watch them. She was close now, he could feel her breath on his neck and her breasts were nearly bursting out of the dress.
‘You’re different. It’s hard to explain. You had more attitude — it’s still there, under the surface. You always knew what you wanted, and no one could force you to do something you didn’t want to do.’
‘You mean like this?’ she said, wrapping her hands around his neck and pulling him towards her.
The kiss seemed to last for hours, as their lips parted and while her tongue explored his mouth, her hands rifled through his hair. He just let it happen, too drunk and too happy to care if it was real or not. This Caitlin wanted him, even if she wasn’t quite the same one he’d fallen for. It wasn’t like he was cheating on her: the waves of pleasure confirmed that. He slipped his arms around her and they fell back into the sofa.
‘Yo!’ Bentley nudged Josh awake.
‘What?’ Josh complained as Caitlin lifted her head off his chest.
‘Much as I’m glad you two have finally got together, I’m sorry to report we have a slight issue.’
‘What time is it?’ Caitlin groaned as she adjusted her dress.
‘We’re t-minus two hours from the end of our pass and the twins have gone missing.’
‘They’ll be in the bar.’
‘Checked that, and all the other places that a pair of meatheads might end up — did you know they have a bear pit downstairs?’
‘Shit,’ said Josh. ‘Where are the others?’
‘Behind you,’ came a chorus of voices.
‘Okay. So everybody knows,’ groaned Caitlin, trying not to sound too embarrassed.
‘Everyone knew weeks ago,’ said Fey. ‘We’re just relieved you got it over with.’
54
Witch-hunt
The third quarter was when things got serious. The lessons were more intense and focused on core skills. They were divided into smaller groups, and rotated through the specialisations: navigation, defence, engineering and evasion.
Josh and Caitlin spent every spare minute together. They were hardly ever in the same classes, but made up for it each evening, sneaking off to random parts of the castle where they wouldn’t be disturbed. It became a running joke within the team that there would soon be a new member of Aries — even if they would have to wait nine months for it to arrive.
Caitlin spent a lot of time in the library, which had been borrowed from the Bodleian. Duke Humphrey’s Library was a beautiful old reading room full of rare books stacked into carved wooden alcoves on ornate balconies. She was in her element, her nose stuck in a book, a stack of old manuscripts piled beside her. Josh would basically act as her gopher as she sent him off for one ancient text after another. He was beginning to wonder if she wouldn’t have been happier staying in the Scriptorians.
‘What exactly are you looking for?’ he asked, struggling to find space on the table for a stack of bestiaries.
‘I’m researching the Wyrrm. I can’t bear the idea of Darkling being stuck in there forever.’
Josh remembered Darkling’s key, and still had no idea what he was supposed to do with it.
‘Surely the Xeno’s would have already done that?’
‘There is no greater fool than an expert — as my grandfather used to say.’ Caitlin took out the watch that Derado had given her. It was an old pocket-watch, the casing inscribed with a series of intricate circles, like the orbits of planets around a star symbol.
‘I’ve been meaning to ask you how you disappeared that day,’ he said, remembering the moment on the parade ground.
Caitlin looked up from the watch, then smiled and disappeared.
‘I wasn’t asking for a repeat performance,’ he muttered.
She reappeared behind him and covered his eyes.
‘Boo!’
He turned around and caught her waist, kissing her. ‘So?’
‘It’s not easy to explain… you kind of stop time. Like setting your tachyon to loop on the same moment.’
‘Like you do in vorpal combat?’
She shook her head. ‘This is different, as you don’t need a tachyon. It’s kind of like holding your breath — you move sideways in time.’
‘Can you teach me?’
She disappeared again, reappearing back in her seat behind the desk. ‘If you’re good,’ she said, smiling wickedly.
Caitlin opened her almanac.
‘Shit! Sim says Alixia has been arrested!’
�
�What? Why?’
‘Hold on. He’s still writing.’ She spread the book open so that Josh could read the text too.
Sim’s handwriting was a fluid copperplate that swept across the paper as they watched. Caitlin read it aloud.
‘Protectorate are holding her on suspicion of consorting with a fugitive and fatecasting — no details. Father’s gone to petition the founder. Lyra is in pieces. Phileas is furious, believes it’s some kind of Nemesis witch hunt — won’t stop ranting on about the bloody Daedalans.’
Josh thought about the Tarot reading that Alixia had made him go through. He still had the cards in his locker.
‘What the hell do they think she’s done?’ wondered Caitlin aloud.
‘It’s me, isn’t it?’ Josh sighed. ‘Like Derado said, they’re coming after me.’
‘You’re hardly a fugitive. You haven’t done anything wrong.’
Josh remembered all those nights he’d spent in police custody; at first, his mother or the social worker would come and pick him up. Then as he got older, they left him there overnight — probably hoping to teach him a lesson, but the food was better, and he got a decent night’s sleep, so he didn’t see it as a punishment. He guessed that detention by the Protectorate probably wasn’t as cosy.
What do you want us to do? Caitlin wrote beneath Sim’s message.
Stay put. Sim replied. Not safe here.
The words were already beginning to disappear as they read them.
Josh sat on his bed staring at the Tarot cards and thinking about what to do for Alixia. She’d been kind to him — in every timeline they had met. It wasn’t fair that such a good woman should be treated so badly. He’d thought about going back to Cole’s shop and warning her, but something about Sim’s words — Not safe here — had stopped him. Derado said they wouldn’t dare come into the academy, which meant for now he was beyond their reach, but he had no idea for how long.
The Infinity Engines Books 1-3 Page 54