by Oliver EADE
“He went to Atlantis? Yeah... explains everything! Pretty cool, though”
“More than cool, Gary. Unbelievable! He discovered a totally different race of humans, now labelled Homo atlanticus.”
“Revolting little creatures if they’re all like Teeth!”
“Good ones and bad ones, Gary, as with the rest of us. Look different, sure, but they are sort of human and their civilisation had become incredibly advanced. He made friends with them... particularly the one you call ‘Teeth’.”
“The wanker!”
“Wait, Gary. At first God wanted to help them. They couldn’t believe him when he said their civilisation would be doomed by catastrophe… a combination of a super-volcanic eruption and massive earthquake, the like of which has never occurred on our planet either before or since the destruction of Atlantis. See, the Atlanteans had come up with a macabre discovery. A mysterious energy called ‘Life-Force’ can be extracted from the brains of living people. This was being used by them as a punishment for murderers and other serious offenders. Oh yes, they had rulers, laws, a policing system… everything. God hated the way they obtained the stuff, though he reckoned as a form of energy it must be the most powerful in the universe. Concentrated, a trillion-fold more powerful than electricity or any kind of fossil fuel derived-energy.”
“Wow! So he brought Life-Force back here? I mean, forwards.”
“Wrong. God’s not that stupid!”
Gary frowned.
“But…?”
“He’ll never use the time-specs to change the course of history.”
Gary thought of how he’d returned to the future and prevented Arthry from killing Beetie. Not history, though! More like an unreal dream.
“No telling what Homo sapiens would’ve done if we’d got our grubby hands on ‘Life-Force’. Give Homo atlanticus his due. They only used this to power their city’s lighting, heating, transport and other essentials. No wars, either!”
“So?”
“God brought Zaman, the current Chairman, to London. To the future… to long after the Great Flood of Atlantis. And to the city God so loved and wished to save from further catastrophe. He wanted to show Zaman what could be done. He offered to go back and help the Atlanteans. Maybe take SAME back, help them preserve their wonderful civilisation.”
“But you said he refused to change history.”
“Also said God had his Achilles Heel. Get the drift?”
“What happened?”
“Belinda! That’s what happened. Zaman stayed with God and Belinda. They put him up, fed and entertained him. You couldn’t have asked for better hosts than God and his beautiful wife. At first Zaman just seemed to be paying Belinda compliments. Saying how lovely she was, how ugly women back home were in comparison. Gradually he changed. He wouldn’t leave God’s apartment. He always sat close to Belinda and began to touch her, stroke her. She hated this, of course. She told God, but he didn’t want to believe her… lived with denial until the day he found Zaman in the bedroom with her after coming home early. Belinda was cowering under the bed-clothes, terrified, and God realised how right his wife had been about the man from Atlantis... the man whom he’d so proudly shown off to his friends and others in The Agenda.”
“Beetie… surely she isn’t… you know, Teeth’s daughter.”
“No, no! God arrived back in the nick of time.”
“Why didn’t he just kill the filthy sod?”
“Like I keep saying… God has his Achilles Heel. Anyhow, I don’t think God is able to kill.”
“Shit! I would’ve if that had been Beetie instead of her mum and I’d been God. I’d have…”
Gary paused and Redfor chuckled again.
“Not so easy, ay?”
“I killed a man with a machete in the Hatcheries… and tried to strangle the taxi driver who threatened to take her back, only she wouldn’t let me. She…”
“Glad to hear she remembers some of what God taught her as a child. Or maybe it’s not in her nature not to kill. God says Belinda changed him. Before he met her he’d have killed under pressure like anyone else.”
“So what happened next? After that?”
“He became angry with himself for not listening to Belinda and being so naïve as to trust his friend. Zaman disappeared for many years. Together with others of his kind he’d gone back for before the Belinda business blew up. Over twenty of them, there were. All went into hiding with Zaman. Not a difficult thing to do in London in those days before the security cameras got installed. Zaman had been taught standard English by God, but the others learnt our language from locals. Hence they’ve got a rather strange accent. Atlantean cockney. Belinda, meanwhile, fell seriously ill. The horror of what Zaman tried to do to her may’ve played a part, and God always blamed the Atlantean. After she died, God was so grief stricken he could barely keep going, but he did, and finally only lived for his work. His inventive output became incredible and he soon forgot all about his old friend from Atlantis.”
“If that had been me and Beetie, I’d have hunted down the bastard.”
“Seventeen or so years ago he decided to use Belinda’s ova to produce a baby. They’d…”
“I thought so!” interrupted Gary.
“They’d already converted the Hatcheries into a children’s home for test-tube babies who had no parents. Older people had died off, the population was declining and The Agenda, under God’s chairmanship, wanted to boost the population as I told you. This gave him the opportunity to give the world a child of his beloved late wife. Her ova had been stored deep frozen for years, like many other women’s. He said it was a way of making it up to her. Not the same as having one of his own, but he vowed he’d always treat the child as his.”
“The dad? Was it Supersperm Man?”
“Uhuh! So Beetie came to be! God loved her dearly, but as she grew up she became more like Belinda in every way… looks and temperament. He’d hoped to take her back to live with him when old enough to leave the Hatcheries, but found he couldn’t. He realised he’d only think of her as Belinda, and that would’ve been wrong. It broke the girl’s heart when she had to remain in the Hatcheries. Poor little Beetie never fully understood why God seemed to have abandoned her.”
“What about her name? Beetie? Did that come from God?”
“All TTB’s had a number and colour, but many, at least in God’s time, also had a name folk could remember more easily, usually related to their colour or number. So ‘B32968’ became ‘Beetie’.”
“Cool! Arthry, Redfor, sure… but what about Blinker?”
“Oh, it’s just a nick-name that stuck!”
“Same colour, same father?”
“No. Didn’t work like that. Colour depended on the day of the week on which the child got delivered. When old enough he or she had their own room in a building of similar colour.”
“After Beetie and Blinker, no more children. Right?”
“The Hatcheries kept the name, but its purpose changed when God got kicked out. Became a power-house for Life-Force and a grooming hostel for the Atlanteans’ girls. Where the other kids ended up… Beetie’s childhood friends… is a mystery.”
Gary kept quiet about his own suspicions.
“So how did God get kicked out? How come Teeth now runs the show?”
“Great inventor and wonderful guy, God, but no politician!”
“What happened?”
“About two years back, when Beetie reached fourteen and God realised he ought to leave her at the Hatcheries until… erm... that’s another thing... well, Zaman and a bunch of heavies – huge muscular dudes specially chosen by himself – turned up unexpectedly in the Terminus where The Agenda Committee would meet regularly with God to sort out the affairs of London and learn about his latest scientific developments. He’d been working flat out on his most important discovery of all time.”
“Explain!”
“God had to admit that London would one day face ultimate annihilatio
n like Atlantis… because of the tremors. The impact from the large asteroid had shifted the earth’s tectonic plates. New fault lines had developed, and London was bang on top of one of these. Only a matter of time before the growing super-volcano beneath London blew its top. Years earlier, Zaman had suggested they use Life-Force to take them into space… power a giant spacecraft to take human-kind to another planet. At first God refused to agree. Exterminate people for the use of others? Not God’s way! However, he hadn’t forgotten the amazing power of ‘Life-Force’. In his own methodical way, he’d been working away, in the past, until he came up with a breakthrough… a way of extracting ‘Life-Force’ from the ubiquitous dark energy of the universe… just before Zaman reappeared in his life.”
“And he still didn’t kill the bastard?”
“Oh, Zaman’s clever. His big head, whatever! He’d spent years behind the scenes drumming up support, training those dumb heavies, building up an army supplied with spears and mag-stunners… an invention of God’s to immobilise his genetically-modified rats, the gee-rats, and never intended for use against people. No guns in future London, as you’ll have noticed. God reckoned the heat generated by a single bullet hitting the defences might, in theory, unwind the SAME process. Destroy London.”
“Guess that figures!”
“Zaman began spreading lies concerning God. Said he planned to kill everyone else and take off alone with his wife’s daughter. Oh yes, his spies in the Hatcheries had kept him informed about Beetie… told him she was the spitting image of Belinda. Next thing, he stormed into the Terminus with his little army. God was no fighter. Not in the physical sense. And he was hopelessly outnumbered. Lucky to escape with his life!”
“Poor bugger!”
“He and a few followers had heard of a group of drop-outs hidden away in the old London Underground system. He joined them and formed the Retreat. With God’s genius, the place became more habitable and the Retreat grew in strength. He often returned to the past and had a second pair of time-specs made for ‘someone special’. Beetie, of course. Some of us knew. Things seemed to be going well for a while. Retreaters hoped to make a comeback, take over the Terminus and allow God to continue his vital research and direct the city once more, for it became clear that Zaman, the new Chairman, was up to no good. All civilians had to wear the same dress, a tracksuit made from material they used to use in Atlantis. They were forced to take Atlantean dope. People began to disappear. Some returned as zombies… the ones we now call ‘the surfacers’. Others never came back. No one grew old. God could do nothing! Security cameras were stuck to the sides of buildings, and… well, you’ll have seen the Hatcheries for yourself. Surfacers get recycled for Life-Force energy and gee-rat food… but only Zaman knows the whole truth.”
“From friend to fiend, ay? So, what about the Pentatron tablet?”
“Something designed by a brilliant Atlantean scientist all those years ago. He used to be a pal of Zaman. It’s made from an unknown material…”
“Unknown?”
“…and because of unique properties the tablet focuses Life-Force energy. Allows this to be concentrated and directed, and… well...”
“Like power a spaceship?”
“More of a flying saucer. Circular. God took the design from an ancient Atlantean prototype. Began working on this in the hopes of discovering an alternative to Life-Force from dark energy… but the Pentatron tablet turning up in the present? Nothing short of a miracle! God had seen it during one his time-travels, though no one else, apart from Zaman, had any real idea of its importance. The Atlanteans have been working away on God’s space-craft using his design. God found out and sent for you … and none too soon! He was terrified they’d get hold of the tablet.”
Gary’s face clouded with embarrassment.
“So Mike and I have changed everything by handing the tablet over to The Agenda?”
“Yes and no, Gary! God’s harnessing of dark energy to replace Life-Force opens up a whole new dimension in space travel. The sheer size of the Belindaron, as God named his flying saucer when he designed her years back, would make Life-Force useless, but using his latest discovery mankind could start all over again somewhere else. He’s already designed a programme for her to reach the beautiful uninhabited planet of a young star an easy cosmic hop from here in the Belindaron… by his calculations. And God never gets his calculations wrong! He called the planet ‘Planeta Paradisa’. An earth-like paradise waiting to be colonised.”
“Bit naff, eh? Paradise Planet?”
“No room for cynicism in the future! Anyway, God’s not a ‘words’ guy.”
“So the whole programme’s been hijacked by Teeth for his own filthy purpose! To set up an Atlantean breeding colony using the likes of Beetie. Jesus Christ!” Gary’s eyes burned with fury.
“Well and truly a mess, eh? Zaman won’t go without Beetie whom he insists on calling Belinda. Seems to regard her as a reincarnation of her mother. She’s a right to know everything, Gary, and God’ll be telling her now. All that I’ve told you… and more.”
“I don’t wanna hear any more! Let God carry out his own crazy plan, sure, but not with Beetie! I’ll never let her go back to the future. Never! They’ll only get her over my dead body!”
“Shhh!”
Gary seemed unaware he’d raised his voice to a level clearly audible in the sitting room.
“Your dead body? Pretty easy for them to arrange, Gary. No, we must come up with a better plan. Beetie will be hearing this from God right now. She…” Redfor stopped, mid-sentence... checking himself. “We have Mike as well, remember,” he continued. “God’s got great faith in Mike.”
“He knows damn all about Mike! Anyway, those freaks have got him now!” Redfor shrugged his shoulders but said nothing. “What about you, Redfor? You seem kinda different.”
“Well-spotted, my astute little friend. A ‘people person’ like Mike after all perhaps... if you’d only let yourself be! I come from the present. This present. I’m alive somewhere in Birmingham this very minute, as a boy of… er… three! I work with God in the future, see? In the Stanmore Scientific Laboratories. Got the shock of my life when my boss vanished and reappeared grey-haired and bearded. He needed me, he said. Guess I’d always been like his right hand man in the laboratories. Whisked me away to the future, and… well, with my wife having left me I jumped at the idea of adventure.”
“Redfor? Surely not your real name?”
“Roderick… or Roddy. Roddy Anniston.”
“Nothing will ever surprise me again, Redfor... Roddy... whatever!”
“Redfor, please. No one calls me Roddy any longer. I can tell you, a lot more’s yet to happen that’ll surprise even you, Gary. This is only the beginning.”
“How can I trust you? Like I thought I trusted Arthry and that Blinker was with The Agenda… until I found out the truth.”
Redfor leaned forward, rocking to-and-fro uneasily… an odd habit of his that had caused Gary to think of him as shifty and untrustworthy.
“Found out the truth? What truth? Arthry’s God’s greatest ally. All our hopes would collapse without him.”
“In the Retreat, when Mike and I returned with the Pentatron Tablet. Arthry was with Teeth… Zaman or whatever you like to call the turd! Arthry made damned sure we gave the tablet to Teeth. Said all he needed now was Belinda. He’s with them, Redfor! Up to his bloody neck. Probably hoping for a free trip to Paradise Planet plus some poor, unsuspecting dolly-bird thrown in for good measure. Mike and I’d be a collection of gnawed bones in the underground system of the future but for Blinker. The softer bits minced into rat shit by those ruddy great rodent teeth. I tell you, one was about to chew me to bits. Blinker’s okay... but Arthry? A flipping traitor, mate!”
Redfor carried on rocking back and forth without saying a word. Gary found this intensely irritating.
“Some of what you say may be true,” the boy continued, “but for me you’re enemy till you prove yourself. S
o, for that matter, is the silly old bearded fart who calls himself God and messes up everyone he comes into contact with.”
“Like I said, Gary, I can’t tell you everything because…”
“Because you’re bloody enemy!”
“Because I’ve a good reason. As for Arthry, you must be wrong. He’d never betray God. They’re like brothers those two, apart from the age gap. Arthry’s a hard man, but that’s because he’s had to be to keep us Retreaters alive these past few years. He’s no reason to go over to Zaman and his bunch. He’d never be that stupid.”
“Like you said yourself, Redfor, this is only the beginning. Still room for surprises... and that includes you!”
“No! Not Arthry! He’s not capable of such a thing… unless… no... it can’t be!”
“What?”
“Beetie!”
“For God’s sake, what is it with all those old codgers and Beetie?”
Gary’s felt his cool slipping. His muscles tensed as the urge to hit someone or something, get Beetie and run, swelled inside him like an inflating balloon.
“The relationship between Arthry and Beetie is pretty special, too, but only because God asked him to guard her for all he’s worth. The man’s been like a father to the girl but he’d never want her for himself. He’s not that kind of a person. Tough but not deceitful. You’re wrong, Gary.”
“Why did he stab and kill her?”
“What are you talking about? Have you gone mad?”
“The first time I went to the Retreat. Arthry accused me of being with The Agenda. Thought I’d been sent to kill God.”
“Sounds like Arthry. Forever over-cautious.”
“Beetie ran between us and he stabbed her to death.”
“Gary, she’s alive!”
“Went back, didn’t I? With the time-specs! Relived that bit, but changed my approach. Pretended to be in with God.”
“And the girl lived? She must have somehow got in the way the first time. An accident, Gary!”
Gary hung his head in shame. The ‘somehow’ had been his fault, as were all the other bad things happening to the girl.