The Infinity Engines Books 1-3

by Andrew Hastie

  To find out that they had left her intentionally wasn’t something she’d prepared for. She’d spent years imagining many different and more extreme ways in which they had been taken: from being carried off by hordes of monads, absorbed by strzyga, to being devoured by the Djinn. Caitlin had thought of everything — except betrayal. It had never occurred to her that they would leave her on purpose, even if they felt they had a good reason.

  She walked along the bulkheads, not caring where she was heading. The Nautilus was a beautiful ship; she could see the detail and care that they had put into building her. Not one pipe or valve was out-of-place; it was a piece of engineering perfection, and she felt an overwhelming desire to destroy it. She looked around for some kind of weapon but found nothing useful.

  She went up to a clock-like face of a dial and kicked it hard, shattering the glass into a thousand pieces. It was a deeply satisfying feeling, and she pivoted on her heel looking for another target. There was a whole row of them waiting for her, but as she rounded on the next one, she stopped and watched the shards of glass reverse back into place.

  ‘What the —’

  ‘Chronologically locked,’ commented her father. ‘Everything in this ship has been temporally safeguarded against failure. You know your mother is a control freak.’

  She collapsed into his arms and cried for what seemed like an hour until the rage abated, slowly replaced by relief and love. She wanted nothing more than to be held by him and told everything was going to be okay. The small spark of hope rekindled and flared as he hugged her tight and whispered: ‘We’ve missed you so much, KitKat, you’re all we ever wanted.’

  ‘Why did you leave?’ was all she could manage through the sobs.

  ‘Because we found out something else, bigger than you or I. Something that we need to show you.’

  Caitlin stood back and wiped her eyes. ‘What?’

  ‘Best if we do this somewhere more comfortable …’

  75

  Eschaton

  ‘You’ve been out of the maelstrom!’ exclaimed Caitlin.

  Her father looked down nervously, avoiding eye contact. ‘Once or twice.’

  ‘How?’

  ‘The Nautilus is fitted with a breacher. We can enter the time stream for a few minutes. Of course, when we do, it causes no end of trouble — monads follow us everywhere,’ her mother explained.

  They were sitting in the ‘bridge’ of the ship, decorated with an eclectic mix of antique furniture and brass control systems. A large segmented glass window looked out onto the void ahead of them.

  Her mother was at the controls, pulling levers and tweaking dials as they appeared to move through the maelstrom. Caitlin knew that in reality, it was the other way around — that the chaos was flowing past them, but it was pretty much the same thing.

  She wanted to ask why they hadn’t come to see her, but it just came out as: ‘Why?’

  Her father walked over to the window. It looked like it had been salvaged from some giant clock. He sat down in one of the tattered leather viewing couches and patted the empty seat next to him. ‘There are things that you learn once you leave the continuum that make you question the Order’s motives, especially those of the Copernicans.’

  Caitlin came over and sat beside him. The view through the window was incredible, but her eyes were focused on him.

  ‘We’ve discovered routes within the maelstrom that appear to have a purpose. Like ancient roads, they lead to some strange places, whole branches of time that seemed to have been isolated, hidden from the continuum.’

  ‘Hidden by the Copernicans?’

  ‘Or the Augurs,’ grumbled her mother.

  ‘What for?’

  ‘We’ve caught glimpses of other travellers in here, and we think there’s some kind of secret test going on — there is evidence that someone is preparing for an Eschaton Cascade.’

  ‘A what?’

  ‘It’s a theory — a statistical prediction, which forecasts there will be a temporal collapse caused by a series of events that will deflate the entire continuum — something catastrophic in the future travelling backwards through time.’

  ‘Oh. You mean the end of times — like the final battle with the Djinn.’

  Her father looked confused. ‘The what?’

  ‘That’s what Daedalus called them — the Elder Gods.’

  ‘And who exactly is Daedalus?’

  Caitlin realised the Maelstrom Malefactum was only discovered after her parents had disappeared.

  ‘He wrote a book about this place. Hundreds of years ago. It was discovered when I was twelve.’

  Her father looked puzzled. ‘And this book, it talks about the elders — the Djinn?’

  ‘It’s become quite a cult, and there are hundreds of believers within the Order.’

  Her father grabbed her hand. ‘What exactly do they believe in?’

  Caitlin was a little disturbed by the way he was acting. ‘That the Djinn have extraordinary powers and will one day break into the continuum and end time. Only the Nemesis can change the outcome. No one really knows what exactly is supposed to happen, and when Josh showed up things got a little weird. They actually tried to sacrifice us to create a breach. Josh saved me — kind of. They did manage to summon a Djinn.’

  ‘It’s worse than we thought.’

  ‘Do we know who this Daedalus was?’ her mother asked calmly.

  Her father let go of her hand. ‘What does it matter! They’ve already progressed through the first two precursors of the crisis.’

  ‘Don’t forget the Paradox,’ her mother reminded him, executing a rapid series of course corrections. ‘Damn Heisenberg rudder is failing again! Back in a sec!’ She jumped out of the pilot seat, grabbed a tool belt and disappeared down a spiral staircase.

  Her father stood up and began to pace around the bridge. ‘Alright, so let’s talk about the Paradox, the “Nemesis”, as you call him.’

  Caitlin remembered the day she’d found him in the study; Josh had looked like he had been dragged through a hedge backwards, but still, there had been something very cute about the way he had smiled at her.

  ‘He literally walked out of another time.’

  ‘Did he know you?’

  She blushed. ‘Yes’

  ‘Did he talk about the future?’

  ‘He said he’d seen an accelerated version of the present. We all thought he was a bit crazy.’

  Her father went to the window, his arms folded and stared out into the void.

  There was a strange whining sound from below, like a generator powering down, and then the lights flickered and went out. Caitlin could hear her mother hitting something metallic and cursing at the top of her voice.

  The emergency lights kicked in with a soft amber incandescence, like candlelight, and Caitlin went to stand next to her father.

  ‘There have been outcomes where the Paradox was seen as a messiah, a prophet of sorts — like your Nemesis. We think that some branches of the continuum were abandoned just because of the Order’s obsession with his existence. He has a dangerous effect on the timeline. So much so, it was decided that a secret department of statistical theorists should be formed to study the consequences. The founder didn’t want any unnecessary hysteria and division amongst the wider membership.’

  ‘These are the Augurs?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘And they were created to stop the Paradox?’

  ‘To understand the effect.’

  ‘And did they?’

  ‘I don’t think even an Augur could’ve predicted that someone would create a religion based on the elders, but it does align with one of the precursors that lead to the end of times.’

  ‘Exactly how many are there?’

  ‘There were at least twelve if I remember correctly. My old Copernican tutor would fuss over the equations for hours, trying to isolate the statistical inference.’

  Caitlin laughed. ‘You were a Copernican?’

  ‘I w
as training to be one when I met your mother,’ he said, smiling wistfully. ‘She can be very persuasive.’

  ‘And the precursors?’ she asked, quickly changing the subject.

  He held up one hand and started to count off on his fingers. ‘It starts with Prophecy — belief in a paradox leading to factional division within the Order and either dissolution or insurgency. Then there are whole number of other factors like fluctuations in Standard Random, chronospheric anomalies such as perdurant activity —’

  ‘Perdurant — like a Wyrrm?’ Caitlin interrupted.

  He lowered his fingers. ‘Jörmungandr? The Midgard Serpent? That’s just an old Norse myth.’

  ‘I’ve seen one — it killed one of my friends.’

  ‘That’s not good. Not good at all!’ her father said, shaking his head.

  ‘So, Josh really is this Paradox? He can travel into the future?’

  ‘That’s never been proven. I always favoured the theory that his father is from the future. The Copernicans had enough trouble dealing with the known variables, let alone adding in a wildcard from a future scenario. It would cause no end of rewriting of the algorithm — easier to deny his existence: less admin.’

  ‘But how would it happen? I mean, assuming that someone actually came back from the future and you know –’

  ‘Impregnated his mum?’ her mother interrupted, climbing back up through the hatch, her frizzy red hair held back by a pair of welding goggles.

  ‘Ah, now that’s number eleven!’ her father declared as the lights came back on. ‘Someone would have had to invent a time machine.’

  ‘You mean a linear? A non-member could move back through time?’

  ‘Not through time as such,’ her mother answered.

  ‘No, more like outside.’ Her father nodded at the glass window.

  ‘Through the maelstrom?’

  ‘Yes.’

  76

  Battle

  Thunderous clouds rolled across the plain towards them. A chill wind drove waves of sand before the storm, and on it came the stench of decay and death.

  ‘There are some things that are universal,’ said the colonel, coughing and covering his nose with his hand, ‘and the smell of corruption is one of them.’

  Josh gagged but managed to hold down the rising bile. He felt overwhelmed by despair as the demons approached. Random images of his mother, frail and sallow, lying in some miserable hospital bed flooded his mind; followed by Gossy’s body broken and limp in the front seat of the wrecked car, his grandfather staring blankly at him as the nurse told his mother he was going to die.

  ‘They will use your pain and grief against you,’ warned the colonel over the noise of the gale. ‘You must stay focused on something positive.’

  It was truly the stuff of nightmares. Red eyes smouldered as they approached through the darkening clouds. Their forms took shape and Josh could make out many-headed giants chained to smaller, paler beings whose thin, distorted bodies glowed as if lit from within. Tentacle-headed serpents larger than skyscrapers weaved through the air like Chinese dragon kites, while grotesquely bloated corpses marched below. As the sound of a million wings reached him, Josh realised the dark clouds were made entirely of flies.

  The colonel was busy drawing circles in the sand with his cane. Lines of energy filled the groove as he carved, whispering in a language that Josh couldn’t recognise.

  ‘What exactly is the plan?’ Josh shouted over the howling winds.

  ‘Taxonomies — classifications. The naming of things — the Djinn have secret names, old ones that haven’t been spoken in a thousand millennia.’ He stood inside the first circle and shouted: ‘Astaroth!’ while tearing out a page from his book. It had a mathematical symbol on it that instantly burst into blue flames. A tall black creature with long spindly limbs and a horned crab-shell head fell to the floor, iron chains binding it to the ground.

  The Djinn army screamed and pressed forward. The colonel stepped into the next circle. ‘Haagenti!’ he boomed, holding another sigil in the air, and a serpent creature twisted as spikes pierced through the entire length of its body.

  The other demons slowed as the colonel jumped into the third circle and cried: ‘Malphas!’ A B52 bomber appeared above the many-headed beast and dropped its payload over the horde.

  ‘Boom!’ Josh punched the air as they watched the firestorm engulf the swarm.

  Something caught Josh’s eye. ‘Six o’clock!’ he shouted, pointing in the opposite direction.

  The colonel turned towards the second wave.

  There were literally hundreds of them, a horde, surging towards them.

  ‘Okay. I think we’re going to need a better plan!’ Josh added, as the world grew dark.

  A huge tornado of flies surrounded them, dying as they tried to cross the boundary of the colonel’s last circle. They fell from the sky like black snow. Beyond them, the Djinn circled, hundreds of grotesque silhouettes edging ever closer, looking for an opportunity to strike.

  The colonel and Josh were pressed back-to-back watching the swirling darkness as they slowly rotated around each other. Josh lashed out with his sword at anything that came too close, but it was pointless.

  ‘So, you don’t know all of their names?’

  The colonel closed the book sheepishly. ‘Not all of them, no.’

  ‘How exactly was this going to help us find Caitlin?’

  ‘Well, to be honest, I was actually hoping she would find us.’

  A tentacle shot out of the dark wall and struck the colonel across the side of the head. Josh sliced it in half and grabbed the old man before he fell. A gnarled hand stretched out and snatched the scimitar away from Josh.

  ‘Shit!’

  The colonel was too stunned to conjure another weapon.

  The creatures seemed to sense the weakness and surged forward. Josh tried to reach the colonel’s book, but it had fallen too far from them to get it safely.

  ‘Can you stand?’ Josh tried to pull the old man up, but he was too heavy.

  ‘Her name, use her name,’ he moaned.

  Josh could feel them on his skin as he screamed Caitlin’s name.

  The first creature that touched him froze, its putrid flesh turning to crystal. A connection instantly formed between them. Josh could feel its timeline unravel, and his mind instinctively reached into it.

  The other Djinn stood back in fear, watching one of their own crystallise at his touch.

  Gossamer thin lines of the past wove out before him like spider threads. He teased them apart, following their path back into the distant past; millennia of bleak void stretched back into obscurity. Josh experienced the terrible, empty yearning of aeons of solitude. Whatever the creature had once been was lost, the traces of its origins a shadow in a dark room. But Josh couldn’t let go — he pursued the path into its forgotten history.

  As he travelled further into the darkness, Josh remembered the void that he’d seen at the end of the colonel’s timeline. This had the same threat of unseen dangers, although it felt like he was on the other side and being drawn towards something secret. He forgot about everything except for the path and the promise of hidden truths. In the distance, Josh could sense a nexus of activity — a cluster of nodes that he instinctively knew would hold the key to everything.

  ‘Josh?’ said a familiar voice — one that reminded him of someone, of a girl he’d once known. He ignored it, focusing on the nexus.

  ‘JOSH!’

  Her voice was like a nagging fly buzzing around inside his head.

  ‘You have to let go! Now!’

  There was a strange flickering glow inside the cluster, as if it were lit by a thousand fireflies. Josh strained to reach it, but somehow it stayed out of range.

  There was a blinding light, and the connection died.

  77

  Grimoire

  ‘Are you okay?’ Caitlin asked, sitting beside him on the bunk.

  Josh had a splitting headache and the weir
dest metallic taste in his mouth. ‘No,’ he said, rubbing his head. ‘Feels like someone hit me.’

  ‘Sorry, that was me,’ Caitlin confessed. ‘I had to do something as you wouldn’t let go.’

  ‘What happened?’ Josh propped himself up on the bed. ‘Where are we?’

  ‘On my parent’s timeship. We rescued you and some crazy old man from the middle of a massive swarm of Djinn. My father says he’s never seen anything like it.’

  ‘You have the colonel?’

  ‘That’s the colonel? I never imagined he’d look like that.’

  ‘He’s probably a bit confused.’

  ‘I don’t think so. He’s on the bridge with my father discussing tactics.’

  ‘Your dad’s alive?’ Josh exclaimed, realising what she’d said.

  Caitlin nodded. ‘Mum too. It’s a long story. I’m not really sure I understand it fully either.’

  Josh swung his legs down off the bunk, and the world shifted uneasily.

  ‘What did you hit me with? A brick?’

  ‘Close,’ she said holding up the colonel’s old leather book. ‘It’s a Grimoire. The Grimoire in fact — the Book of Deadly Names. I don’t know how he came to have it.’

  ‘Because the colonel is Daedalus.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘He’s been studying the Djinn for years, he has an observatory full of research.’

  Caitlin looked at the book thoughtfully. ‘I’ve never thought of him as a real person. I thought the Daedalans made him up.’

  Josh rubbed the back of his head. ‘Well, it bloody hurt considering it wasn’t supposed to exist!’

  She kissed his head. ‘Serves you right for throwing me into the maelstrom.’

  ‘So, this is the Nemesis we’ve been hearing so much about,’ her mother declared as Josh followed Caitlin up onto the bridge.