by Alex Scarrow
… I actually saw that thing rip his…’
He was rambling.
‘Cartwright,’ said Maddy again. ‘Listen to me, you need to hear something.’
‘… and he was dead.’ He turned to look at the floor. Halfway across, a pool of blood had congealed. Forby’s blood. ‘I mean… there! Look! It’s his blood! He was — ’
‘Cartwright!’
The old man’s confused eyes darted from the blood back to Maddy.
‘This new reality is still wrong,’ she said. ‘This reality with you and Forby and men outside and a helicopter buzzing overhead and your secret agency. It’s all wrong too. This is something else that should never have happened.’
‘What?’ His face creased with confusion.
‘Your life,’ said Sal. ‘Should be a very different one.’
‘In our timeline… in the correct timeline, you’ve lived a different life to this.’ Maddy tried appealing to him with a friendly smile. ‘Perhaps even a much better life… I dunno, with children, grandchildren?’
‘I’m not married!’ he snapped. ‘I don’t have children!’
‘But, see, that’s what I’m saying — ’
‘This agency is my wife! This secret! This secret! Time travel! It’s my secret. I know things that even our president doesn’t. I know time travel’s already happening! That’s what I’m married to! This… this knowledge! That’s my life!’ He raised his gun again and aimed at the frown between Maddy’s eyes. ‘And you’re not going to take that away! Do you hear? NO ONE IS GOING TO TAKE THAT FROM ME!’
CHAPTER 77
1941, Somervell County, Texas
Liam spotted them further up the river, two boys. One splashing around in the water, the other perched on a shelf of rock, sheltering from the scorching hot sun in a cool nook of shade.
Neither had seen him yet. His first instinct had been to call out to them, to find out what they’d been doing so far today… to ask them if they’d found anything interesting. But then if they hadn’t yet, his intrusion on their day might alter what they did; change the sequence of events for today, and they might not make their discovery.
So he decided to lie low and watch. He hunkered down in the shade of a yew tree and waited.
An hour passed, another, and another. The sun was well past midday, the shadows slowly shifting and lengthening. He checked his watch again. The countdown was telling him he had less than two hours to go. He was beginning to wonder whether he was watching the wrong two boys, and perhaps another several hundred yards up the river two different lads were right now cooing and marvelling over some incredible fossil writing they’d just discovered. Then the boy on the rock ledge called out something.
‘Saul!’
‘What?’
He couldn’t quite make out what the lad on the ledge said next, but from where he was he could see the boy was turning something over and over in his hand. The boy in the water, Saul, didn’t seem particularly interested, content to continue paddling around in aimless circles. The other, frustrated at his companion’s lack of interest, suddenly leaped off the ledge and into the river, swimming across to join him in the shallows. He showed Saul what he had in his hands, and among a garble of exchanged words Liam made out two distinct ones: look and message.
That’s it, then!
He pulled himself up, grimacing at the stab of pins and needles in his feet, and made his way towards them. ‘Hey there, lads!’ he called out.
Both of them turned to look at him. ‘Hey there!’ he said again, trying to sound as friendly as possible and not frighten them off. But as he drew closer he could see both of them regarded him warily.
‘Hey… it’s all right, now. I’m not going to eat you. Just saying hello is all I’m doing.’
‘Ma says we cain’t talk to no strangers, mister,’ said the boy holding the rock.
Liam drew up a few yards short of them. He hunkered down on his haunches and offered them a friendly smile. ‘Well now, my name’s Liam, Liam O’Connor. So I suppose I’m no longer a stranger.’
Both boys nodded at the unfailing logic of that.
‘I’m Saul. This here’s m’ brother Grady.’
Saul looked at him. ‘You sound funny,’ he said. ‘An’ you got strange clothes. Where you from?’
‘Ireland,’ said Liam.
The boy looked at his face curiously. ‘What’s wrong with you, mister?’
Liam shrugged, bemused by the odd question. ‘Nothing’s wrong with me.’
‘You sick or something?’
He really didn’t have the time for this. ‘No, I’m perfectly fine.’ He gestured at the rock Grady was trying to keep from his prying eyes. ‘What’s that you got there, lad?’
Grady hid the rock behind his back defensively. ‘Ain’t nothin’.’
‘Oh, come on.’ He inched a little closer. ‘Is it money? Did you find some money up there?’
‘No.’ Grady shook his head warily. ‘Didn’t find no money.’
‘It’s just some words on a stupid stone,’ said Saul. ‘Somebody made a message on a stone.’
Liam offered them a look of mild interest. ‘Really? How interesting. Can I see?’
Grady shook his head. ‘It’s mine.’
If he’d been a bit smarter about this, if he’d thought ahead, he’d have brought something to trade — a cool toy, a pack of baseball cards, a bag of sweets or something, even some…
Of course. He suddenly remembered he had on him something way better than any of those. Something either boy couldn’t fail to be entranced by. ‘Hang on,’ he said, digging into the thigh pocket of his tattered shorts. It was in there somewhere still. He’d… ah, his fingers found the sharp edge. A moment later he pulled out a four-inch-long fishhook-shaped object. He held it out in front of him and their eyes widened. ‘It’s a claw,’ said Liam. ‘A real dinosaur claw.’
Saul’s and Grady’s jaws dropped open synchronously as four young eyes admired the vicious-looking nicks along the curved edge of the claw.
‘See, I just found it this morning, up the river, so I did. I heard you can find all sorts of fascinating old things along this river. Want to hold it?’
Both their heads nodded vigorously.
‘We could swap,’ said Liam. ‘You can take a look at my claw… and I’ll look at that message stone of yours.’
‘Sure,’ said Grady quickly, the passing fascination with his curious find more than trumped by the four-inch glistening claw dangling from Liam’s fingers. He passed his rock over without another look at it. ‘Message don’t make no sense to me anyways.’
He reached out for the claw.
‘Careful, it’s quite sharp,’ said Liam.
Grady took it off Liam and then hunched over, turning his back on his brother.
‘Hey! Grady, lemmesee too.’
Grady shook his head. ‘My stone, my first look-see.’
‘Aw, come on, lemmesee! Lemmesee!’
Liam found a boulder nearby and let himself stiffly down on to it, ignoring their squabbling. As he turned the flat nugget of dark slate over in the palm of his hand, his heart silently skipped a beat.
Jay-zus… there you are again. After all this time. My silent messenger.
There it was, his own handwriting, reversed and faintly embossed with web-thin ridges and grooves of rock compressed and preserved by time.
‘You’re right,’ he said, looking up from the rock, ‘the words make no sense at all, do they?’ But Grady wasn’t listening. He was entranced by the vicious-looking claw and too busy fending off Saul’s grabbing hands.
‘It’s just a load of gibberish,’ he said, a knowing half-smile spread across his face.
‘Wanna swap, mister?’ asked Grady. ‘My stone for your claw?’
Liam shrugged as casually as he dared. ‘I dunno… my claw’s a pretty good find an’ all — ’
‘Please…!’ The boy dug deep into the pockets of his own trousers and produced a wooden yo-yo. ‘I
’ll throw this in for extra!’
Liam made a show of interest in the toy. He’d had one just like it back in Cork: large, cumbersome and one he’d never managed to get on with.
‘Well… all right, then, I suppose. Yo-yo as well, you’ve got yourself a deal.’
They exchanged a solemn nod in silence — a deal officially sealed — and then Liam picked himself wearily up, for some reason feeling as old as the hills, and politely bade farewell. But both boys were already stuck back in a heated debate about the rights of access to the claw, and who was going to hold it all the way home.
He picked his way back along the shingle of the riverbank, through sliding, clacking wet pebbles, running his fingers across those faint embossed lines and his eyes looking for that small cairn of stones.
CHAPTER 78
2001, New York
Sal felt it again, the early ripples, the faintest sensation of dizziness. But it looked like no one else had felt it. Cartwright still had his gun on Maddy.
‘This… this is my life. This world. This reality!’
‘Y-you have to step outside now… rejoin your men,’ replied Maddy firmly.
Sal was impressed with her calm, her cool in the face of his wavering gun.
The old man shook his head and laughed. ‘What? You’re expecting me to just walk away from this? The greatest discovery in the history of mankind… and what? I just walk out into that backstreet and try to forget about it?’
Sal glanced at the other two kids. They met her gaze; eyes exchanging a shared imperative.
We’ve got to do something.
‘Listen!’ cut in Maddy. ‘If the wave comes and goes while you’re in here… y-you’ll be left behind. It’ll rewrite the present without you — ’
He smiled. ‘Oh… I think I could live with that, Maddy. In fact, I’ve been waiting a long, long time for something like — ’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘This isn’t about state security any more, is it?’
He shrugged. ‘All right, yes! And why not? This thing… this time machine… it’s a boy’s dream! It’s a man’s dream! Mankind’s dream, goddammit! To travel anywhere, to any time, to see it all. To see things no other human will ever see!’
‘It’s not a toy, Cartwright. You know you… you just can’t think of it that w-way.’
‘Oh, right! You… some snot-nosed teenager and her buddies… you’re to be entrusted instead, are you? You’re the guardians of time, huh?’
Sal glanced at the others again, then took a hesitant step towards the old man. She looked to see if the other two were going to do likewise. Laura remained where she was, trembling, face ashen. She shook her head. Too frightened. Edward, however, took a silent step forward along with Sal.
She had no idea what she intended to do — make a grab for the gun?
Oh God, the thought made her knees wobble.
‘I was selected!’ replied Maddy. ‘I didn’t freakin’ want this, Cartwright! Jesus! In fact, I didn’t have much of a freakin’ choice at all!’
The old man shrugged. ‘Guess what? I don’t really care.’ He stepped towards her, across snaking cables. ‘This is what I want. And I’ve spent my life waiting for it. Preparing for it.’
Sal noticed something blinking on one of the monitors.
‘I’m an old man,’ he continued, stepping on to concrete floor in the middle of the archway, clear of any cables that could trip him up. All the while the aim of his gun remained resolutely on Maddy. ‘My whole life, my whole adult life, has been leading towards this moment. And I’ve known for so many years that a time machine was going to arrive under this bridge, in this archway, on September tenth, 2001.’ He sighed. ‘Can you imagine what knowing about something like that does to you? Knowing that near the end of your natural life… something truly wonderful is going to happen.’ He shook his head. ‘And what?’ He laughed drily. ‘You’re telling me to just forget about it? Just walk away and forget about it?’
Over Maddy’s shoulder Sal could see the blinking cursor in Bob’s dialogue box. He was trying to tell Maddy something. A warning of the impending time wave?
‘The things I’ve wanted to see, Maddy Carter… the things I’ve dreamed of seeing over the last fifteen years, the destruction of Pompeii, the fall of Atlantis, the crucifixion of Christ… the battle of Bunker Hill, George Washington crossing the Delaware, Lincoln giving his Gettysburg address! The arrival of Columbus…’ His rheumy old eyes were alive with naive wonder. ‘My God! The impact of the K-T asteroid that ended the time of the dinosaurs! Can you imagine actually seeing that impact for yourself?’ He shook his head. ‘How far back can I go? Do you know?’
Maddy spread her hands. ‘I… I don’t know. I — ’
‘The beginning of life on earth? The first division of cells?’ Cartwright seemed lost in his reverie, of the things he could see, the places he could go. All his now for the taking.
Sal suddenly felt the hairs on her forearms stand on end, and knew it was here — the time wave. A moment later the ceiling light dimmed and flickered and they all felt it, a moment of imbalance, the floor dropping away beneath their feet. The monitors over Maddy’s shoulder all flickered and went dead. Laura cried in alarm and Edward gasped as the ceiling light flickered off, leaving them, for a moment, in complete darkness.
Then the monitors flickered back on and the ceiling light fizzed, blinked and bathed the archway in its cold blue glare once more.
Cartwright giggled joyously. ‘Good God! That was it? Wasn’t it?’
Maddy nodded slowly. ‘Yeah… I think it was.’ She looked at him accusingly. ‘You should’ve been outside our field. You should have been out there with your people. This messes things up. This — ’
‘But I wasn’t outside,’ he said calmly. ‘So why don’t you just get over it?’
‘You don’t understand… you’ve been written out of the present. I’ve got no idea what that means to you or — ’
‘That suits me fine,’ he smiled.
Sal noticed the blinking cursor was back on-screen and all of a sudden it occurred to her what Bob was desperately trying to tell Maddy.
‘Maddy!’ she cried, pointing at the monitors. ‘You need to look!’
Maddy turned to glance over her shoulder. ‘Oh no!’ She turned back to Cartwright. ‘GET OUT OF THERE!’
His wiry brow furrowed. ‘Uh? What’s up?’
‘ MOVE! ’ she screamed.
The displacement machine’s hum changed in tone as stored-up energy prepared to be released.
‘LOOK!’ shouted Maddy, pointing to the ground at Cartwright’s feet. He looked down, wondering what was so special about a chalk circle and, within, a small irregular section of the grubby concrete floor scooped out and…
‘OH GOD, CARTWRIGHT, GET OUT!’
It happened in nanoseconds, the instant appearance of a sphere of energy around the old man. Most of him was inside, all but his left hand.
Sal thought she saw in that fleeting moment dark shapes swirling around him like demons or ghosts, a window on to some world that an uneducated person, a superstitious person, someone from the Dark Ages, might have called Hell.
Then he was swept away. Gone.
The sphere pulsed and shimmered, and now she could see what appeared to be an undulating Texas-blue sky, and an arid and drab landscape… and the wavering outline of a shape stepping through. Liam staggered into view with a distinct look of nausea on his face, and a moment later the sphere of supercharged tachyon particles vanished with a soft pop of rushing air.
‘Jeez, that was an odd one,’ he said queasily, bending over, nauseous and heaving.
‘Liam!’ yelped Maddy. ‘Oh my God… I thought you were going to get all mushed up with Cartwright! I…’
He raised a hand to hush her. ‘Just a second, just a second… I’m gonna — ’
He threw up on the floor and on to the still-twitching hand Cartwright had left behind.
Sal rushed over to him. ‘Liam? You OK
?’
He wiped his mouth and looked up at her with his bloodshot eye. ‘I
… I just… I’m all right now.’ He straightened up and looked down in disgust at the hand and the acrid-smelling puddle at his feet. ‘That wasn’t like I’m used to. That one felt really odd, so it did.’
Maddy shook her head. ‘I’m not sure what happened. Cartwright was standing in the circle. I forgot the countdown was due.’ There were tears in her eyes, running down her cheeks. ‘Oh God, Liam, I thought you were going to end up a twisted mess with him and…’
‘Well…’ Liam rubbed his mouth dry and grinned. ‘I’m all right now, aren’t I?’ He spread his hands and looked down at himself. ‘Or have I got an extra arm or something stuck on the back of me head?’
She nodded, wiped her eyes and laughed. ‘No… no, you’re just fine as you are.’
‘Did it work?’ asked Liam. ‘Has anyone looked outside?’
‘I think a time wave came,’ said Laura, looking at Sal for confirmation.
‘That’s right.’ Sal nodded. ‘I’ll go see.’
She turned back to the entrance, hit the button and the shutter slowly began to crank up. They gathered around the rising corrugated shutter and as it lurched to a halt they stepped outside into the dark night.
Manhattan glistened brightly across the Hudson, a towering wedding cake of lights. A commuter train rumbled overhead along the Williamsburg Bridge, and the evening was filled with the soothing white noise of far-off traffic and the echoing wail of a police siren.
‘Normal New York,’ said Liam. He puffed out a weary sigh. ‘That was a bleedin’ mess and a half we got out of, so it was.’
Sal reached out and hugged him tightly, embarrassed by the tears rolling down her cheeks. She squeezed him in a self-conscious way, just like anyone might a big brother, and then let him go.
‘But here we are again,’ she whispered.
They watched New York in silence, each of them lost in their own thoughts for a long while.