by Mark Lingane
Chambers glanced over at Cally, closed the journal, and placed it on the desk. “This is the home of the man who didn’t kill your parents.”
“Who did?”
Chambers shrugged. “His commander, I’d guess. Someone senior. There wouldn’t have been many above him, especially anyone he thought was a good sniper.”
“When I find him, I’m going to make him pay.”
“Really?” Chambers raised a doubtful eyebrow at the young and frail boy. “We thought a guy was coming back through time to assassinate people. We were sure you were one of the targets, but something went wrong. We spoke to an expert, Randeep, who said only instructions could be sent back. Not people.”
“I’m not sure that’s true.”
“Maybe. Randeep said it was redefining what they understood about physics. When we were escaping from the robot, it was like you could see the future.”
“I can’t control it, but when it comes and I blink, it’s like I’m in the future for a split second. And each time I do it, the pain gets worse. I don’t want to do it again.”
“Cally, what happened in the car?”
“I … it was like I saw heaps of things. I don’t know what any of it means; it’s just images.” He looked down at the carpet and dragged his feet over the pattern. “Most of the time it’s only a few seconds. Sometimes there’s more pain and the visions stab forward more, like a week or a month. But I only get the same amount of time to see all the stuff. The farther away something is, it’s like watching YouTube on ten-times speed, the images go quicker.”
“How far ahead have you seen?”
Cally shrugged. “I saw quite a lot in the car. When we went out into space and those people decided to attack us.”
“Wait, are you saying the silver spaceships aren’t even from our time? Someone’s coming across space and time to destroy us? We must’ve done something pretty bad.”
“Or we’re going to do something bad.” Cally shrugged.
“But Randeep said living things couldn’t go through time. Maybe chemicals, but not living things. So how are they doing it?” Chambers sat in silence, tapping his finger on the desk. “What else have you seen?”
“I saw a great big guy in red armor. He was, like, as big as a building, and he was lying on the ground and bleeding. That’s the last thing I’ve seen,” he lied. He wiped his nose on the back of his hand and stared down at the floor.
“You knew when the aliens turned up,” Chambers pointed out.
“Yeah. I can sort of sense them. There’s a change in the air. It’s like everything gets heavy, like I’m covered in lead.”
A scraping rumbled through the council estate, and Chambers glanced through the curtains. A robot was approaching the building. “Time to go,” he said.
As soon as Chambers stepped out onto the balcony, a fist swung for him, connecting with his jaw and knocking him to the ground. A kick landed in his stomach. He heard Cally scream. A strong set of arms wrestled him upright and held him in front of a middle-aged man wearing worn and faded military clothing. He had a shaved head, with tattoos curling up around his neck. Several heavily armed gang members flanked him. His eyes were dead.
“A man and child walking quietly through a post-apocalyptic landscape. You think this is The Road?” The man tilted his head. “You’re in Stein’s way, and he don’t like it when people get in the way.”
“We’re not looking for trouble,” Chambers gasped.
“Yet here you are with trouble having found you,” the man said. “That kind of service don’t come cheap.”
“We’ve got nothing of value.”
The man leaned in, hovering a few inches away from Chambers’ face. “What were you doing in the military breezers? Harry Stein wants to know,” he hissed.
“I take it you’re Harry Stein. Getting supplies.”
Stein laughed. “It ain’t your turf. You should be cowering down below. But you went direct. No hesitation. You weren’t lookin’ for a bunch of manky rat packs. It makes me curious about whose breezer you went to.”
“We’re looking for someone.”
“Ain’t everyone? You know, I hear things in the air.” Stein raised his hand and slowly clenched it into a fist. “Grab it right out of the air, we do, without them brass even knowing. Names of the dangerous and the dead. You hear all sorts of things when you get your ear just right.” Stein flicked the cross hanging from his earlobe.
A building on the other side of the council estate smashed apart as the robot drove its fist through one wall, startling the gang. Chambers slammed his heel down onto his captor’s foot and swung around with a hook, knocking Stein backward. A quick elbow above Cally’s head into the man’s face and they were both free. Chambers grabbed the young boy and dragged him forward, pushing Stein aside.
Bullets cracked out of the machine guns, spraying around Chambers and Cally, and blasting into the concrete. They instinctively ducked as they charged down the long balcony. Rounding the corner, they were confronted by another gang approaching.
Chambers looked back and forth, then over the side down at the ground. “Cally, you have to get away. I’ll catch up.” He quickly wrapped his arm around the surprised boy, and swung him out over the railing down onto the balcony below.
Cally screamed as he crashed onto the concrete, rolling to a stop. He looked back up at Chambers.
“Run, Cally. Go!” Chambers pointed toward the stairs.
Chambers turned and lunged at the charging men, throwing his arms out wide and taking down the first line. The second line piled onto him, landing punches and kicks. The rest ran to the stairwell and ran down to the lower level.
Cally’s feet pounded along the wet concrete and jumped down the steps. He landed awkwardly, rolling on his ankle. He tumbled down the remaining stairs and crashed into a brick wall, then staggered up, dazed.
In front of him, the giant robot swung its massive guns around and started firing. Cally sprinted as fast as his ankle would allow, leaping over a broken swing set toward the opposing buildings. More gunshots erupted from behind him as the gang opened fire on him.
“There he is,” someone shouted.
Gunfire screamed in front of him. He ducked and rolled for cover behind a pile of rubble.
A dozen soldiers ran over the top of him. They quickly set up a perimeter around him and fired back at the gang. The gang ran for cover. Cally’s heartbeat came under control. Rescued.
A man in a lab coat and a large set of headphones pushed a white box with the letters LIGO stamped on the side toward him. A woman with large glasses and a friendly face bent down to help him up.
A middle-aged man walked up to Cally and stared into his eyes. “What do we have here?” Hubbard said.
“A walking black hole,” Ronnie replied.
“Get him back to the lab, brainboxes, before that robot makes mincemeat of us.”
“Wait. We need to save Reggie,” Cally shouted, as he was dragged away. He struggled against the soldiers holding him, but it was pointless.
“Cut him up and see what makes him tick,” Hubbard shouted. He looked thoughtfully at the retreating gang.
60
THE SCIENTISTS BOUNCED around the Candle Fire laboratory with Brownian alacrity, buoyed by endless cups of really hot tea, ducking in to examine the young boy when a spot vacated in the testing room they had erected. A great wall of batteries had been constructed inside the room, with Geiger counters placed in the corners. Their buzzing fluctuated wildly as Cally breathed.
Ronnie was looking in through the large window, taking notes, and Jones stood next to him with an angry expression on her face.
“I don’t like it here,” she said. “These are dangerous weapons.”
“When you take the technological advantage away, all you have left are people and tactics,” Ronnie said.
“I assume that makes people the next target.”
“Yes. Most of these weapons are designed to kill people, l
ots and lots of people. The Ministry of Defence believes that technology will be the deciding factor in future battles. We can either try to be more advanced in an eternal cycle of escalation, or destroy the technology and level the playing field. But if we’re prepared for that we have the advantage.”
“So that’s it? Weapons that reduce us to cavewomen?”
Ronnie shrugged. “Some would argue that’s not a bad thing.”
A scientist approached Cally with a large needle. The young boy looked terrified.
“That’s it,” Jones said. She opened the door and elbowed the scientist aside. “He needs rest.”
The scientist gave her an annoyed look, but backed away under her fury.
Jones locked the door with her pass and it hissed closed, leaving her and Cally in silence. She sat down and examined the boy’s face. “I’m sorry you’re being put through this,” she said. “I like your T-shirt.”
Cally looked down at the game logo emblazoned across his shirt.
“I was totally addicted to it,” Jones said. “Release five was going to be awesome, but I guess I might have to wait a bit.”
He gave her a smile.
“Do you want anything to eat or drink?” He shook his head and Jones swept his long fringe aside to reveal his tear-filled eyes. He seemed so young. “Do you know why they brought you here?”
Cally nodded. “I can see the future?”
She laughed. “What? Good grief, don’t tell anyone that. No, they think you can detect electromagnetic waves, which are electric fields and magnetic fields, and that carry energy …” She adjusted her glasses.
“I know what EM waves are. There’s no need to recite Wikipedia to me.”
Jones slowed her speech as the thoughts aligned in her mind. “… and they travel at the speed of light. Images. Energy decaying. Light decaying.”
She glanced over at the LIGO machine. “LIGO measures gravity.”
She glanced at the Geiger counter, swinging wildly. “Geiger measures radiation.”
She glanced back at Cally. “You’re both. You’re both reader and sender.”
Jones stood up and backed away hurriedly. “Black hole and flare.” Her eyes flicked back to the Geiger counter. It was registering in the lethal zones. She bit her bottom lip nervously. “The event horizon. You can see the future.”
“I said that before. But not all the time, I can’t control it.”
She held out her hand. “Stay there.”
Cally looked around the sealed testing room and gave her a quizzical look.
She exited the testing room and paced around before spotting Ronnie. Her understanding of the world was being turned upside down. “He can see the future,” she hissed.
“Does he know how’s he doing it?” Ronnie asked.
“No, but he’s heavily radioactive. Something has altered him and his perception skills.”
“In a heightened state, he may be able to identify electromagnetic waves. Or he may even have some control over them. There’s a lot of research that needs to be done.”
“He’s a kid; you can’t experiment on him,” Jones said.
“Oh, yes. You’re correct. That would be bad karma.”
“Also, it isn’t very nice. He’s a boy.” She placed her hands on her hips.
“But if they ever find out about him, they’ll experiment on him.”
“Who is ‘they’?”
“At this point in time, anyone but us. This has to be the most secret thing ever.”
Beeping echoed down into the chamber as the main door opened. Hubbard, with two of his ever-present soldiers, marched in. He shouted his arrival.
Jones was closest to the general. His finger of authority fell on her and he demanded information.
“Cally is special,” she said. “Early tests have shown he can detect electromagnetic waves, which means he can sense when the enemy arrives. We set up the battery wall and he was able to accurately detect the level of each.”
Hubbard sighed and rolled his eyes. “That’ll be useful. Look, someone said he could emit these waves.”
“We haven’t been able to work out how he does that yet.”
Hubbard looked over at the young boy in the testing room. Anger rose in his face and he stormed inside. He swiped his pass over the lock, sealing the door. “Now let’s see how special you are,” he said as he approached Cally.
The boy backed away.
“Do that thing that makes you so special.”
Cally held his hands up against the man. “I can’t control it. It just happens when I’m scared or something.”
“Really? That’s an interesting piece of information. Are you scared now, boy?”
Cally looked around, searching for an escape route, but the soldier had him cornered.
“Do something, or I’ll really scare you.”
“I told you,” Cally said, “I can’t.”
Hubbard withdrew his pistol, aimed at the boy’s head, twisted the gun slightly, and fired. Cally clutched at his ears and screamed. The floor seemed to shake. There was a clap of thunder and Hubbard found himself thrown several feet backward.
Jones screamed out and smashed her hands against the glass.
The room whirled as Hubbard fought to stay on his feet. The batteries were reading full capacity. The door unlocked. His mouth fell open. The silver craft was hovering several feet off the ground. He dashed forward and looked into the cabin. All the dials were live.
He laughed. “You’ve done well, boy, you’ve done well.”
There was a commotion on the other side of the viewing panel. Several scientists ran into the chamber, amazed at the sight in front of them. They clustered around the craft, trying to peer in, laughing at the strange sensation of being near such a highly magnetic source.
The display inside the craft went dead, and it clattered to the floor. Lifeless.
“What happened? Do it again,” Hubbard shouted at Cally.
There was no response from the boy. Hubbard wheeled round. Cally was unconscious on the floor. He checked for a pulse and sighed with relief.
“Poindexters, take this boy and find out how he did this. And once you’ve done that, make sure we can do it, too, whenever we want.”
“You want me to weaponize him?” Braxton’s face filled with concern.
“I want you to replicate the only advantage we have against these monsters. This is our chance.”
“But surely—”
Hubbard withdrew his pistol and aimed it at Braxton. “I’ve given you an order, brainbox. A poor decision from you could lose us this war.”
Braxton gasped and stepped back. Hubbard didn’t waver. Time slowed as they stared at each other. Braxton broke and nodded.
“That’s a wise choice. You might just have saved everyone on the planet.”
Braxton turned away to hide his disgust.
61
THE DAYS TRICKLED past in relative peace while Braxton pressed on with the experiments. Information wasn’t forthcoming, and frustration wrapped around the team.
Jones and Ronnie spent an increasing amount of time together. A young researcher had taken Cally out of the testing room for a break. They were playing a simple game where she would hide a magnet under one of several upturned coffee mugs and he would, without fail, select the correct one. They watched him intently.
“He can’t stay here,” Jones whispered. “He says he can see the future. It’s relatively possible with the amount of gamma he’s expelling, but they can never find out.”
“I’ve been thinking about this until my brain hurts. If such a thing were possible, Cally would be a god. He could adjust his present to produce any future he wanted. If he didn’t like you, he could find a future where you were killed and work toward that. Existence would be bound to his will, and if that isn’t a definition of a god, I don’t know what is.”
“That may be stretching the thinking too far,” Jones replied.
“Think about it; it’s a
possibility.”
“That’s all I’ve done. Part of me wishes I’d never known about this. The human race isn’t ready for this kind of … I don’t know what … power?”
“He can either be a savior or a damnation.”
“Exactly. Either way, he’s far too dangerous to be in the hands of anyone who would use his abilities.”
Ronnie extracted his small black device and placed it on the table.
“I’ve meant to ask what that does,” Jones said. “You use it a lot.”
“I’ve been working on it for a few years. It measures local relative-gravity strength in relation to magnetic-field shifts. I was going to market it as a longevity device, like a portable stasis chamber. It leads whoever’s holding it into a gravitationally dense spot, wherever that is on the planet.”
The numbers moved slowly, the dull red display barely changing.
“If you live in places of increased gravity, time passes more slowly in comparison to other places,” he explained. “Cally does strange things to it. I think it’s possible that it can do far greater things, which is why I’m giving it to you.”
“What am I going to do with it?”
“Look at it with fresh ideas. You’ll be better at developing it, maybe into something that will keep Cally safe. You’re the smartest person I know.” Ronnie looked around. “Either way, it’s best if you get out of here. Nothing good will come from this place.”
“Where can I go?”
“There are whispers of rebel outposts in the—”
They abruptly stopped their discussion as Hubbard entered the laboratory through the great round door, followed by two soldiers, who took up position on either side of the exit.
Jones slipped the device into her pocket.
“Give me the good news, Poindexters.”
Braxton shook his head. “He hasn’t been able to replicate the event since.”
“Have you tried testing him under duress?”
“Within reason.” Braxton looked at his fellow scientists uneasily. “We have ethics and guidelines we have to adhere to.”