‘I’m impressed with your grasp of the technology,’ Hale said.
He picked up the skull of a tiny marsupial from the coffee table. ‘Anyway, this is the place I escaped to.’ He laughed. ‘I had to make myself look fiercer and more powerful than anyone else. I needed gold to buy my way into everyone’s good books. It’s real survival of the fittest in this century.’
‘I know, I’ve experienced some of it,’ Simon said. ‘But, Dad, did the Time Bureau know you were the Chieftain?’ he asked. ‘Did they know you were here?’
‘Perhaps they suspected it. Time travel is a rare technology and owned only by very few.’
‘It’s just that I found out they red-flagged the timeline from Kiama Beach,’ Simon said. ‘They must have known where it went and didn’t want anyone else to find out.’
Hale nodded. ‘You might be right. And they sent you to find me. Was that a coincidence, do you think?’
Simon didn’t know what to say. Had Cutler and McPhee deliberately recruited him for the Time Bureau, in order to use him for this mission? It seemed more than likely. Or had they had some other reason?
‘Simon, I don’t expect you to be able to answer that. These are questions for other people to answer.’ He shook his head and smiled. ‘Anyway, I want you to know I haven’t been wasting my time here. Come … there’s something downstairs that I want you to see. Catch!’
Simon grabbed the skull that his father tossed to him. He hurriedly put it on the table, and followed Hale into the next room. So many questions were rolling around in his mind. But, for now, he found it best not to think at all.
Damien kicked aside the wrecked remains of a pushcart and jumped over a mess of broken glass. A group of rioters ran down the middle of the lane, shouting wildly, their arms full of clothes, food and other looted goods.
He stood back to let them pass. These people were not from the Underground. More than likely they didn’t have anything to do with the real cause of the unrest. They were just people taking the opportunity to grab a few of the things they needed. Keen to avoid meeting any more of them, Damien darted around the next corner and glimpsed the city wall beyond the lane’s end.
There were only fifty metres left before the end of the lane and the embankment that led down to the tunnel. He paused in the last of the shadows and peered into the open. Then he pulled his head back as a troop of soldiers marched by on their way to their next riot-control job in the city.
As Damien waited for a chance to safely cross the open ground, he glanced up at the red glow in the sky. The flames were now engulfing some of the dwellings on the far side of town, near the air tower that Bigdad had just captured and where they had successfully taken control of the airship.
But now, doubts flooded Damien’s mind. Should he go with his family to the Far Lands? Was that their best chance of survival? Or should he stay? He suddenly felt unsure as to whether he wanted to leave the Chieftain and the work that had kept them fed all the long months since Bigdad was taken to the city. The time-travel work was exciting. And maybe there was a better chance of survival to be found in exploring other times than there was in escaping to the Far Lands.
Damien eventually shook his head. The way ahead was finally clear. There was no point wondering about time travel. His duty was to make sure Mama and Alli were safe, and that meant preparing them for their journey. After that, there might be time to think about his future.
Damien dashed across the open ground and down the embankment. He opened the waste tunnel’s metal grille, checked that no one had seen him, and crawled inside.
30
The old electric elevator clanked deeper and deeper into the ground. Through the gaps in the steel-mesh cage, Simon watched the sedimentary layers of rock pass—yellow, orange, clay red, brown and even a few flashes of brighter crystalline colour. After what seemed like forever, the elevator lurched to a halt and Hale opened the door and stepped out.
‘Phew, it’s freezing!’ Simon said. ‘I thought it was always hotter underground!’ He followed his father into a long, dark tunnel carved into the solid rock. ‘Is this where your Spin Box is located?’
‘No, we passed that level on our way down.’ Hale flicked a switch and a sequence of lights flickered on.
‘I get it,’ Simon replied. ‘This is where you keep your gold.’
‘Some of it, yes, but that’s not the real purpose of this place,’ Hale said. ‘The gold has only been a means to an end, believe me.’
Their footsteps echoed loudly in the cold tunnel as they walked towards a thick steel door at the end of the rocky passage. Lumps of broken rock were scattered over the ground and Simon kicked a chunk out of his path.
‘Dad, is this area safe?’ he asked. ‘The place is falling apart.’
‘Just bits of the tunnel wall coming loose,’ Hale said. ‘Lots of these underground walls were rendered in a mixture of rocks and concrete. They’ve been repaired over the years, but they’re wearing away. I do what I can, but maintenance is expensive.’
They reached the steel door and Simon watched as his father punched some numbers into a code lock. With a heavy grinding sound, the door slowly rumbled on rails into a recess in the side of the tunnel. Simon’s father stepped inside and Simon followed.
Beyond the door was a huge rectangular room with a concrete floor and walls, measuring about fifty by thirty metres. A dozen rows of floor-to-ceiling steel shelves stretched down the length of the space.
‘This was once a storage room for a Particle Accelerator built about a century ago, just after they constructed the power station,’ Hale said. ‘I was able to get the Accelerator working again and to build my own Spin Box, but I decided to use this room for something else,’ he continued, grabbing a thick overcoat from a hook beside the door.
‘Why’s it s-so cold?’ Simon asked. His travel suit was adjusting his body warmth, but he still felt the icy air on his face.
‘I’ve had it refrigerated to four degrees below zero. It’s the ideal temperature to keep things safe and preserved,’ Hale replied.
‘Keep what safe and preserved?’
Hale crossed to a row of shelves and lifted the lid from one of hundreds of large, solid plastic containers.
‘Those are eskies!’ Simon exclaimed. ‘Where did you get so many of them?’
Hale grinned. ‘I got a factory up in the city to copy one I brought with me. They’re not nearly as good as the ones you get in twenty-first century Australia, but they serve their purpose.’
Hale reached inside. There was a tinkle of glass against glass. ‘Here, this is what I’m keeping safe.’
He held up a sealed glass storage-jar filled with thousands of tiny, dark seeds.
Simon looked around the vast room. The fact that his father had gone on collecting seeds was not surprising. What made it staggering was the sheer size of his efforts. ‘Dad, are you telling me this whole place is filled with seeds?’
Hale spread his arms to encompass all corners of the room. ‘This is my World Seed Bank. Millions of seeds, tens of thousands of different species. The seeds of trees, of hundreds of grains, of a myriad fruits and vegetables.’
He took out several more jars from a selection of eskies. ‘Thousands of species of plants have disappeared in the last three centuries, during the wars, as well as from Earth warming up.’ He shook one jar of light-brown grains. ‘This is a strain of wheat, a high-productivity grain that has long been extinct.’
‘Then where did you find it?’
‘I made quite a few expeditions back in time myself.’ Hale ran his fingers across the wrinkled skin of his face. ‘It’s taken its toll on me, as you can see. But it was worth it. I found a lot of this collection in just a few trips to a Seed Bank in northern Norway. It had been sealed up in the twenty-second century … and left for me to find!’
Hale produced another jar of tiny seeds. ‘These will grow high-yield carrots.’
‘I hate carrots.’
‘So I
recall.’ Hale put the jars back in their places. ‘It took me a while to learn of the devastation to agriculture and food production in this world as it exists now.’ He shrugged. ‘I couldn’t do much to help people of my own time. So these seeds are my gift to the twenty-fourth century. They might help Earth’s population as it starts to re-establish itself.’
Simon lifted his eyebrows and smiled. ‘Interfering with history … again.’
‘It doesn’t matter how we try to disguise it,’ Hale replied, ‘we are always changing things when we time travel. It comes with the job. You’ll learn that as you travel more across the centuries.’
‘Maybe I will, maybe I won’t,’ Simon said. ‘I found you, Dad. I guess that’s all I really wanted to do. Maybe I won’t want to stay with the Time Bureau after this.’
‘There’s a very good reason for you to stay,’ Hale said. ‘Mainly because your mum and Lil——’
A loud buzz suddenly interrupted him, and Simon was left wondering what his father had been about to tell him.
‘Hold on,’ Hale said, picking up the receiver from a wall phone. ‘Hello … Yes, O’Bray …’ As Hale listened, his face changed quickly from interest to concern. ‘Very well. Put the Spin Box on standby. Yes, make all preparations.’ Hale hung up. ‘We have to return to the surface. The Tribunes are making trouble!’
‘What sort of trouble? Where?’
‘Big trouble, right here. They want my gold, I guess.’ Hale took off his coat and threw it aside. ‘I’ve been expecting this. Those men have just been biding their time.’
‘We have to get back to Danice!’ Simon said.
‘We’ll look after her. She’s in safe hands.’
Simon followed his father into the passageway and watched as he activated the code lock outside.
‘My Seed Bank will have to stay sealed up for a while longer,’ Hale said. ‘For a better day! Earth will revive, Simon.’
The thick steel door slowly rumbled out from its recess in the rock. Within a few seconds, it had slammed shut, sealing the seed room tight again.
‘Come on!’ Hale said.
They hurried back towards the elevator.
‘Dad, why did you order the activation of the Spin Box?’
Hale didn’t answer.
Simon silently followed his father along the tunnel. He had a bad feeling about what might happen next.
31
The ground rumbled underfoot as another explosion from outside rocked the Chieftain’s fortress.
O’Bray hurried across to Hale as he and Simon left the elevator and entered the main cave. ‘They’re attacking us outside the northern gate,’ he said. ‘And they’re coming from the west, up the cliffs from the forest! We can’t fight them off on two sides!’
Simon turned to his father. ‘Is all this just to get your gold, Dad?’
O’Bray stared in astonishment. ‘He’s … your son?’ He blinked, then quickly recovered. ‘Boss, the Tribunes think you’re behind all the trouble in the city and the riot out at the Prison Farms.’
Simon felt a tinge of guilt. He was responsible for the prison riot. And partly responsible for the city riots, too.
‘The Tribunes arrested some of the rioters in the city. Three of them were those guards we recently fired for being troublemakers. The Tribunes think the guards are still working for you and that you’ve incited them to revolt,’ O’Bray said. ‘They think you’re making some sort of grab for power.’
‘And who would have given them that impression, eh, O’Bray?’ Hale asked.
O’Bray shrugged. ‘Who knows?’
‘Then tell me, how do you know the cause of these things so soon after they’ve occurred?’
‘The riots in the city and at the Farms have been going all day, boss.’
Hale gave him a steely glare. ‘Who, amongst all your informants, had time to come and give you this information, and yet wasn’t able to give us warning about an attack from the Tribunes?’
O’Bray avoided meeting Hale’s gaze. ‘I don’t know. But we don’t have enough men to hold out against so many. The situation is serious——’
Another explosion trembled through the walls. The skull of a sabre-toothed tiger wobbled and fell with a crash.
O’Bray twitched nervously. ‘I’ve also heard that some slaves have stolen an airship in the city.’
Simon was pleased to hear the news, but kept his thoughts private.
‘Good on them,’ Hale said. ‘I wish them luck.’ He took a long look around the cave. ‘Well, the Tribunes can take what they want. I’m not staying around to fight. O’Bray, I’ll leave the troubles outside to you. Continue the fight, surrender, do whatever you please. Meanwhile, it’s time to implement my emergency exit strategy.’
Simon couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. ‘Dad?’ he asked.
His father ignored him.
‘The Accelerator is powering up and will be ready shortly,’ O’Bray said.
‘And I’ll take my reserve supply of gold with me.’
‘Yes, boss.’
‘Dad, where are you going?’ Simon asked with sudden panic. It had only just sunk in that his father wasn’t organising resistance to the Tribunes: he was getting ready to leave.
‘Simon! Simon!’ Danice’s voice suddenly echoed through the cave.
More shells exploded outside.
Danice stood in the doorway to the next chamber.
‘And yes, there’s the question of the girl!’ O’Bray said.
‘She’s free to go home,’ Hale replied. ‘Or wherever she wants to go. Get things organised for me.’
O’Bray nodded. ‘Yes, boss, right away.’ He brushed past Danice and headed towards the elevator.
Hale gave a half smile. ‘He’ll be glad to see me go. He’s been keen to get his hands on my riches for a long while.’
Danice stood silently, wary about entering the Chieftain’s cave uninvited.
‘Danice! It’s all right, come in,’ Simon said.
She came forward and bowed from habit. She tried to hide her astonishment at finding the Chieftain without the hood disguising his face.
Hale laughed. ‘It’s okay, you don’t have to bow to me any longer.’
‘He’s my dad,’ Simon said, and grabbed his father’s arm.
Danice backed away in confusion. Her eyes flicked uncertainly from Simon to Hale. ‘But, Simon, you told me your father was dead!’ she said.
‘That’s because I thought he was dead,’ Simon said. ‘But he isn’t. He’s been here. And you’ve been working for him.’
‘It’s all been a disguise,’ Hale explained. ‘I’m in hiding from my own time. And I had to create an impression of power in order to live here.’
Danice stared at Hale for a long time, trying to make sense of what she’d been told. Then she took a deep breath. ‘So, you’re not from our time, and this has all been an act?’ she said.
‘Yes,’ Hale replied.
‘But you terrorised my whole family! Damien and I thought you’d kill us if we didn’t do what you said!’
Hale looked grave. ‘I’m truly sorry, Danice. I didn’t want to cause you any suffering. But there was no other way. Please forgive me.’
Danice opened her mouth as if to yell at him. But she paused, and sighed. ‘Well, now I’m not scared of you any more. And I’m glad my family won’t have to go on any more missions.’ She winced and turned to Simon. ‘I’m sorry. I said all those rotten things about … the Chief … about your dad.’
Simon glanced at his father. ‘It’s okay. He deserved it.’
There was a renewed stutter of small-arms fire nearby.
Hale moved to Simon and took his shoulders with both hands. ‘You’re not going to like this, son, but I have to leave.’
‘No, Dad!’ Simon exclaimed. ‘I just found you!’
Hale gazed down at Simon with all the warmth he could muster. ‘The Tribunes won’t show me any mercy, and you know better than anyone that the Time
Bureau’s hot on my trail.’ He smiled. ‘At least you know I’m not dead. I’m alive and kicking.’
‘I won’t tell them,’ Simon said. ‘I’ll say I didn’t find you. You could go to these Far Lands. Escape out there. But please don’t go where I won’t know where you are!’
‘If you know where I am, it might get me out of the reach of the Tribunes. But it won’t protect me from the Time Bureau. The Bureau is ruthless: it sent my own son to find me. It doesn’t want time travellers it can’t control.’ He paused. ‘And I’m not going to let them control me.’
‘What about Mum and Lil?’ Simon asked.
There was a welling of tears in Hale’s eyes, which he quickly blinked away. ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll be all right.’
‘You were going to tell me something about them … earlier. When we were down in the Seed Bank.’
‘No time for that,’ Hale replied. ‘You’ll find out soon enough.’
Simon felt panic rise in his throat. ‘Then … tell me where you’re going!’
‘This may very well be my last journey, Simon. My body won’t take much more. But I’ve found a safe place to hide—and to live.’
‘Dad, no!’
‘I can’t tell you where I’m going. If you knew, don’t you realise there are people out there who would stop at nothing to get what they want from you? I won’t let them hurt you.’ Hale drew Simon into a strong hug. He smiled at Danice. ‘He’s a good lad. Look after him, will you?’
Danice could only nod.
Simon took a moment to think. ‘But, Dad, what about your Time Accelerator?’ he said. ‘What if someone else here gets hold of it?’
‘That’s all right, I’ve built in a self-destruct mechanism. It will activate a few minutes after I leave.’ Hale looked at them both intently. ‘Look, it would be best for you to make immediate plans to get away, too. How long’s your mission time?’
‘It was originally forty-eight hours,’ Simon replied. ‘We missed the scheduled pick-up but the TPS will return every eight hours.’
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