by Lauren James
“What do you mean, ‘took him somewhere’?” Kate asked.
“With the Skim,” Clove explained. “They just disappeared.”
“Where did they go?”
“She didn’t tell me, like always.”
“What do we do?” Matt asked. “We can’t just wait here and get caught. More soldiers are going to arrive any minute. That’s what happened last time. We stole their car.”
Clove ran a hand through her hair. “We’re stuck here without Ella. We need the Skim.”
As she spoke, she heard a military vehicle drive up to the building.
“Hide!” Kate said. She and Matt dived behind the reception desk. There was no room for Clove, so she hid behind a sofa in the waiting area.
What was Ella doing? If she left it any longer, they would be caught for sure. There would be no way to get out unseen once the building was filled with soldiers.
Had the Skim run out of battery? Was that what was stopping Ella from returning? Surely she could just spend a few hours recharging it, and then return here, to this point in time. Unless she’d been killed by the soldier, or caught. If he’d arrested her, he might have taken her Skim away. She’d have no way of escaping at all. Clove was developing a terrible migraine. Where was Ella?
The car had pulled up outside the building. Its door opened, closed.
Clove held her breath.
A man’s voice said, “The door’s smashed in. This isn’t a false alarm this time – there are intruders on site.”
“Miller hasn’t responded to messages for twenty minutes, Sir,” said another voice.
“He was in the basement?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Goddamn. He must have been taken out. Call for backup. I’m going inside.”
Glass shattered beneath the feet of the soldiers as they entered the foyer. The hair on the back of Clove’s neck stood up. She wished she could see what they were doing. She wished she could warn Ella that there were people here, in case she did manage to come back. It seemed to take for ever for the soldiers to cross the reception area, but finally their footsteps receded as they took the stairs to the basement. Clove let out a long breath of relief.
“Clove?” Kate called, voice pitched low but still echoing.
“Here,” Clove said, standing up. There were cobwebs in her hair. She repressed a shudder.
“We need to go now,” Matt said. “They’re about to find us – the other us − at the freezer, when we were there getting a vial the first time round. Then they’ll chase us up here. We can’t be here for that.”
“We need Ella,” Clove said, frustrated and worried. “We can’t go without her. And if we leave the building, she won’t know where to find us.”
As she spoke, Clove heard more glass breaking. Heart in her mouth, she spun round, expecting to see more soldiers with guns raised. Instead Ella was standing in the doorway to the building, looking sheepish.
“Misjudged it,” she said.
The sight of her settled something deep and terrified in Clove’s chest. “Ella!” Clove shouted, and ran towards her. “What the hell did you do?”
Ella actually stepped back, although it seemed more like a tactical relocation than fear. “I was getting rid of the guard?”
“Where did you go? Why didn’t you tell me?” Clove barely resisted the urge to shake her.
“You can have this argument later, but now we need to leave,” Matt said.
LEEDS, ENGLAND, 2040
As soon as they were back in the motel room, Clove rounded on Ella. “You promised not to do things without telling me!” she shouted.
Ella folded her arms defensively. “It was a spur of the moment thing.”
Clove didn’t believe her. Ella basically had a reference manual telling her what needed to be done for the whole of Clove’s life.
“Oh, as if it wasn’t in your textbook!” Clove said.
“It wasn’t, actually,” Ella said stiffly. She glanced at Kate and Matt, who were looking awkward. “Can we talk in the bathroom?”
Once they were inside, Clove shut the door behind them. “I didn’t mean to snap at you in front of them,” she said. “It’s just I never know what you’re going to do and it … it drives me crazy!”
“I really didn’t mean to keep you in the dark this time. It just occurred to me, as the soldier was running at us, that there was no way we could get away from him. He’d just follow us to the entrance. So I took him forward two hours into the future.”
Clove’s anger abated slightly. She hadn’t been upset with Ella, not really. She was just worried and scared. She touched Ella’s hand. “If you hadn’t done that, we would all be in a jail cell right now.”
Ella took Clove’s hand. She immediately felt herself relax.
“Is it going to change the future?” Clove asked. “That you’ve done something different?”
“I guess we’ll find out.” Ella tugged Clove closer, resting her forehead against hers.
“We did it,” Clove said. She nosed across Ella’s cheek, tracing the line of her cheekbone. “We found my parents, saved my dad.”
“Saved the world,” Ella added, her hands gliding over Clove’s shoulders and down her back, then up again, as if she just couldn’t stop herself. “You’ve had a busy day.”
Clove kissed her, deep and slow, and then pulled away to drop a series of smaller kisses on her lips.
“Are you sure you want to waste time kissing me?” Ella asked against Clove’s mouth, fingers wrapped in her hair. “Don’t you have to go and save humanity again?”
When Ella started to snicker, Clove kissed her again to shut her up, sweeping her tongue over her lips. Ella’s laughter turned into a sigh.
CHAPTER 38
UTTS
UltraTopSecretSeekers.net
• • • UltraTopSecretSeekers • • •
Angels among us?
A soldier at Central Science Laboratories, West Midlands, UK, claims to have “travelled in time” during a routine security mission.
The soldier says that a “blonde girl” took him to the future and then disappeared into “thin air”.
Could this be the first sign of the Rapture that we’ve all been waiting for? Are our governments once again trying to hide evidence of what we all know in our hearts to be true: that angels are real, and coming for us all?
We are all sending our prayers to you and your loved ones in these dire times.
10 Ways To Make Sure That YOU Get Abducted By Aliens This Christmas – And What To Take With You!
21 Things That Only Ancient Multidimensional Beings of Universe Prehistory Will Understand
Get Excited, Shippers: These Boyband Members Are Definitely Dating … VAMPIRES!
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Angels CONFIRMED!
Our most avid readers will remember the angel sighting by a soldier last year. Today we have more information about Earth’s latest CONFIRMED celestial guest − and she has friends!
A prison guard at Wakefield Prison, UK, has said he saw three angels at the jail in the early hours of yesterday morning. He described them as “horrifyingly attractive”, “angry” and “good at tripping people up”. He told UltraTopSecretSeekers.net that the fierce, angelic beings took one of the prisoners away in a “whirling vacuum of smoke and flames”.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who can freely admit to being jealous of that foursome!
Sign up here to receive priority booking for the Rapture.
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Folios/v8/Time-landscape-2040/MS-17
File note: News articles posted on conspiracy theorist website UltraTopSecretSeekers.net, November 2039–July 2040
LEEDS, ENGLAND, 2040
When Clove and Ella left the bathroom, Kate and Matt were sitting close together on the bed. They jumped apart, looking guilty, when the girls appeared.
“What do we do now?” Clove asked.
“We have
to take the bacteria to NATO,” Kate said. “So that they can see what the English government is doing and stop them.”
Clove nodded. “That’s what happened after you escaped in the film – I mean … er … in all the … um … newspaper reports.”
“Film?!” Kate asked, sounding delighted, just as Matt said, “Film?” in the strained voice of a man who was already bracing himself for a horrifying ordeal.
“It was a really faithful adaptation of your lives,” Clove said, trying not to laugh at such a blatant lie.
Ella snorted.
Clove cleared her throat, avoiding everyone’s eyes. “Anyway. Spart, what do the records say happened after Matt was broken out of prison? I know that NATO seized control of the English government once they had evidence of the bacteria − but how did they get it? What do we do with the vial?” She looked mistrustfully at the bacteria, which Matt was holding.
> According to the NATO report, a vial of bacteria was dropped off in an anonymous package at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, the day of subject allocation “MATT”’s escape.
> Also in the package was a DVD of the evidence taken from CSL that proved the English government had created a weapon of mass destruction.
> Within four hours, the sample was in a laboratory being analysed, and emergency action had been taken against the English government.
“If Ella can help us get to Brussels, it should be easy enough to leave the package at NATO,” Matt said.
“I’ve got the DVD in my bag,” Kate said in surprise. “I was planning to send it with the bacteria anyway.”
“Spart, can you send the headquarter coordinates over to the Skim?” Clove asked.
Matt wrapped the vial in several layers of bubble wrap, to be absolutely sure it wouldn’t break and contaminate the NATO headquarters. He put it in an envelope along with the DVD Kate had brought with her. In a marker on the outside, he wrote WARNING: OPEN IN A SECURE LABORATORY, DANGEROUS EVIDENCE INSIDE.
It took Ella about thirty seconds to open up a wormhole to the inside of the NATO headquarters in Brussels. She’d timed it to be around 8 a.m. there, so the office was empty. Matt carefully placed the package on the reception desk.
“Done,” Kate said, looking like a huge weight had been lifted from her mind. “It’s finished!”
“We did it!” Clove said, amazed. “We actually did it!”
“We can go home,” Matt said, beaming, his eyes bright.
Kate hugged Matt and Clove, one arm around each of their shoulders. After a second, she pulled Ella into the hug too. For a moment the four of them just stood there, unable to believe what they’d achieved. The bacteria was with NATO. Matt was out of prison, and he and Kate would now be cleared of all terrorism charges. And Clove had found her parents − the search which had started this whole thing off.
It was finally time to go home.
“I think I need to eat an entire pizza right now,” Kate said.
Clove laughed, feeling a pang of hunger in her stomach too. “Agreed. But … can we do it at home, please?” Now that this was all over, she really wanted to see Tom and Jen, to make sure they were safe as well.
“Where is home, exactly?” Ella asked. She looked at Kate and Matt. “Should I take you to Scotland in 2040, to when Clove was a baby?”
“No!” Clove said, more loudly than she meant to. “I mean … I don’t want you to go back to then.”
Kate looked hurt. “What do you mean?”
Clove bit at her nails. “I just… I…”
“What is it?” Matt asked.
“I don’t want to lose my parents,” she burst out.
“We are your parents,” Kate said, not understanding.
“No, you’re not. I mean … you are. But Tom and Jen, they—” Clove sighed. “If you go back to 2040, then Tom and Jen won’t be my parents any more. They’ll just be my aunt and uncle who I only see every now and again.” Clove didn’t want to lose Tom and Jen once more. It would be like when she’d destroyed the future. She couldn’t go home to 2056 and find it changed. Not again.
“Clove, I—” Kate said.
“Kate, look. Can’t you both come to 2056, with me? We can just say you escaped and made your way home. Then I can have both of you and Mum and Dad.”
Kate was hesitating. “But, my baby…”
“Please, Kate. Please don’t take my parents away from me.”
Kate looked to Matt.
“It’s her life,” he said softly. “And besides, if we raised her, would she have gone back to the past? Would any of this have ever happened?”
“It’s a paradox,” Ella said. “It could create a time loop. You might erase this whole journey from history.”
Kate sighed. “I’ll lose my baby.”
“I’m right here,” Clove said. She pulled Kate into another hug. “I could have never met you at all. This is better than nothing.”
Matt wrapped an arm around both their shoulders. “She’s right. But what about our ages? By the time you’re sixteen we’ll be – what, thirty-five? Thirty-six? We only look nineteen.”
“We’ll think of something,” Clove said. “Please.”
Kate held onto Clove like she never wanted to let her go. “OK,” she murmured. “OK.”
Clove sighed happily and squeezed Kate even tighter.
CHAPTER 39
North Atlantic Alliance (NATO)
INTERNATIONAL LAW VIOLATION REPORT 24 AUGUST 2040
CRIME: MILITARY POSSESSION OF WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
ACCUSED STATE: ENGLAND
Abstract: On 29 July 2040 at 08:43 a package was discovered by REDACTED NAME in the reception of NATO headquarters, Brussels, Belgium. Initially believed to be a terrorist attack, the Belgian Bomb Disposal Unit (DOVO) was called by REDACTED NAME.
Preliminary analysis showed that the package, labelled ‘WARNING’, contained a chemical substance in a sealed vial, as well as a DVD of data. The vial was taken to a secure laboratory for analysis.
Files on the DVD claimed that the vial contained a bacteria similar to the chemical ANTHRAX. This assertion was corroborated by analysis of the sample by REDACTED SCIENTIST at DOVO. The sample was found to be a mutation of the bacterium Phylum Order Family.
Instructions for an antidote to the bacterium were included on the DVD. Preparations of the antidote were immediately begun by biologists at PLACE REDACTED in case of accidental release or otherwise.
The DVD was also found to contain incontrovertible evidence that the weapon had been created at the behest of General REDACTED, who was acting on behalf of the English government. Biologists KATHERINE FINCHLEY and MATTHEW GALLOWAY were instructed to design and make the bacteria at Central Science Laboratory, England. According to evidence contained on the DVD, they were unaware of its planned end usage.
The DVD also contained evidence implicating the highest ranking officials in the English government in the form of SECURITY FOOTAGE and emails between the English military, REDACTED and the prime minister REDACTED. (See Section 5.4.3 for more details.)
As the creation of any weapon of mass destruction is a breach of international law, both ethically and morally, control of the English military and CENTRAL SCIENCE Laboratory was seized without delay by REDACTED Regiment on 30 July 2040 at 05:13.
Many complicit individuals fled the country to evade capture. All except REDACTED NAME have since been found and given life sentences at FRENCH Prison.
All sources of the bacteria were safely destroyed by trained DOVO officials REDACTED NAME and REDACTED NAME.
Folios/v8/Time-landscape-2040/MS-19
File note: Report filed by NATO on 24 August 2040, detailing the events of 29 July 2040. Following the dissolution of the English military by NATO, the English shadow cabinet declared emergency rule and peace talks with the EU began
ST ANDREWS, SCOTLAND, 2056
The four of them landed with a thump in Clove’s bedroom on the evening of the day after Clove had first
used the St Andrews time machine. Rubbing the phosphenes out of her vision, Clove decided she was not travelling in time for at least the next few weeks. Her head felt like lead.
“Clove?” Jen called from downstairs. “Is that you?”
Her stomach dropped. Jen was home. They were going straight into this, then.
Clove’s parents thought she’d been at Meg’s all day − probably assuming that she was hiding from them after their fight. It had only been two nights ago that they had told Clove she needed therapy, and Clove, in her anger, had said “Jen” instead of “Mum”.
“Yes, Mum!” she shouted and then turned to Ella, Kate and Matt. “Stay here.”
Clove went downstairs. She stood in the kitchen doorway, watching her mum cook dinner. For a while there, she really had thought she would never see her again.
Jen turned and caught sight of her. “Hello, love. You’re home early.”
Clove ran over to her, and hugged her, hiding her face in Jen’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Mum. I never meant to call you ‘Jen’. I know you’re my mum. I was an idiot. I love you.”
Jen wrapped her arms around her, wooden spoon still in one hand. She pressed a kiss to Clove’s forehead. Clove squeezed her eyes shut.
“I know. I love you too,” Jen said.
“I promise I’ll be better, now. I promise I won’t—”
“You don’t have to be better. You just have to be yourself. Your father and I will love you whatever you do.”
Clove thought of all the mistakes she’d made, and wondered if that was really true. “Thanks, Mum. You’re incredible, and I couldn’t have asked for a better parent.”
Jen squeezed her tight. “I love you so much, Clove.” When she pulled away, she wiped a tear from her eye. “You seem much calmer today. Did you make up with Meg?”
“Meg?” Clove repeated, surprised. “No – I mean, yes. We talked about everything. We’re friends again now.”
Jen broke into a smile. “That’s good. That’s really great. I knew the two of you would work everything out.” She turned back to the hob to stir a pan full of Bolognese sauce. Then she spun around and hugged Clove again. “I’m so proud of you,” she said. “You’ve really grown up recently. Work experience has done you good.”