by Lauren James
The man, dressed in neat military uniform, pulled a gun from his holster. Gunshots followed the car as they drove towards the open gates, and there was a loud ping as a bullet hit the boot, but they turned onto the main road and sped away.
Matt let out a huge sigh and Kate couldn’t help but whoop in relief.
“I really hope we don’t get pulled over,” Matt said nervously.
“Yeah, this is a military vehicle. We’d get into a lot of trouble for stealing it.”
“Not just that. I don’t actually have my licence yet.”
Kate didn’t stop laughing until they were on the motorway and tears were streaming down her face, and then she wasn’t sure if she was in fits of laughter or hysterics.
CHAPTER 28
From: Matthew
To: Katherine
Subject: Stop running away! How did we get engaged?
Folios/v7/Time-landscape-2019/MS-161
NOTTINGHAM, ENGLAND, 2039
They were nearly back at the university before either of them spoke again. Kate kept staring down at the vial that was still tightly clasped in her fist. She carefully released her grip, putting it in the cup holder.
“How are we going to reveal this? What if they stop us, like they did last time?”
Matt had been staring fixedly at the road, but he risked darting a glance at her. His hands had remained firmly at the ten and two positions for the entire journey. She’d never seen anyone use an indicator with such determined terror before. He shrugged, and then winced when it jolted his shoulder, injured from ramming the door.
“Last time we didn’t know how seriously they would take it,” he said. “We can be more careful now, and this time we’ve got Tom to help.”
“Excepting that this time we’ve stolen a military vehicle and probably have a whole army squadron after us. And they are going to be ready this time. They’ve had twenty years to prepare for another leak.”
He paused. “We’ll go to Scotland,” he decided abruptly. “We can’t trust anyone here. Wherever we go they’ll find us, but we have a better chance if we are out of the country. They’ll try to kill us to keep this a secret, but we don’t want to make it easy for them.”
Kate nodded, tense. “I’m scared,” she admitted, quietly. “I don’t want to die for this, not again.” Again? What was she saying? It wasn’t them who had died twenty years ago. It was Katherine and Matthew.
Matt hadn’t noticed her slip-up. “Me neither,” he said. “But I don’t regret this – even if we are going to die – because it led me to you.”
She stared at him, wide-eyed. “Nor me. I can’t imagine my life without you, Matt. You are … everything.”
“I love you,” he said in an undertone and actually released a hand from the wheel to take hers, pressing the words into her palm with a kiss.
“I love you too,” she replied, her breath catching in her throat. She realized then that she always had. She couldn’t remember falling in love with Matt. She hadn’t had the butterflies in the stomach, the giddy absorption of falling in love. It hadn’t been like that. She’d just seen him, and suddenly it had all clicked into place.
She’d always been in love with him, and had been quietly, patiently, waiting for him to turn up. Perhaps once there had been a time when she wasn’t tied to him with every molecule of her being, but it was so long ago it was impossible to remember.
Carlisle, England, 1745
The castle was heavily guarded. Katherine had to talk their way inside using a degree of slyness that surprised even her. She made up an excuse for why they hadn’t joined the defence with everyone else the day before, saying that Matthew had been injured and hadn’t been well enough to re-join the fight. Once the soldier had recognized him as the man who’d been shot, they were allowed in and taken to see Durand, who wanted to meet him. The soldier kept giving Matthew sideways looks, as though he couldn’t believe his eyes. Most of the crowd from the cathedral had been too far away to see Matthew’s miraculous recovery, but clearly word had spread among the soldiers.
Durand, too, looked shocked. “But your injuries…” he stammered.
“I’m quite all right,” Matthew replied. “It looked much worse than it was. It was just a flesh wound. I’ve only got a slight fever. It’s nothing to worry about. We came here to tell you that you were right to hold out. The city and the castle can still give a good fight to the Rebels.”
“Thank you for your support, although I don’t know how much longer it will be of any value,” Durand admitted. “The city is determined to surrender, and more and more of my garrison think we should join them.”
“But I heard that the English army isn’t prepared for an attack,” Katherine interjected.
“It’s true that the army hasn’t arrived from the continent yet, Ma’am,” he conceded, smiling weakly.
“So surely the best thing to help England is to delay the Jacobites and make sure the English army has enough time to prepare,” Katherine said. “Even if you eventually surrender, the longer we hold the Rebels here, the more likely the army is to win any subsequent battles.”
Durand nodded thoughtfully. “That’s a good point, Ma’am. I’ll take it into consideration. I don’t believe the consequences would be hugely negative if I were to think for a few more days before coming to a decision over whether to surrender to the Rebels or not.”
Katherine sighed. “Thank you, Sir. I know you’re much better informed than us, so I appreciate you taking the time to consider my advice.”
Durand held out his hand to Matthew. “I am glad to see your injuries are not as bad as I expected.” Durand still looked dazed, as though he couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “And thank you again for your support. Will you be staying in the castle?”
Katherine spoke once again, seeing how exhausted Matthew looked. “Mr Galloway is still a little weak, Sir. He needs a proper night’s rest, so we will return home.”
Durand nodded again and turned away with a final goodbye.
The minute Katherine and Matthew were outside the castle, Matthew vomited into the gutter. He rested, gasping for air, eyes closed tightly against the light. She stroked his hair back from his forehead, testing how hot his skin was. It practically burnt.
It was only when they were walking back to the house with Matthew leaning heavily on her arm that she noticed the clumps of hair twisted around her fingers. It took her a moment to realize they were Matthew’s. She looked at him, his eyes half closed as he focused all his effort on walking, and back at the hair, a thick mass of lifeless brown twisted against her skin. She swallowed, and quickly pulled the hair off her fingers and then threw it away. What kind of sickness did he have? Why was his hair falling out like that?
> ALERT: Subject allocation “MATTHEW” in time-landscape 1745 in critical condition
> Effects of radiation were not considered. Subject may not be able to survive the transfer between space threads
> Similar interventions not recommended in other time-landscapes
> Advice requested
> … waiting …
> … waiting …
> Advice not received
> Surveillance will continue without intervention until input is given
CHAPTER 29
Folios/v7/Time-landscape-2019/MS-162
UNIVERSITY OF NOTTINGHAM CAMPUS, ENGLAND, 2039
They drove the whole way back to campus in nervous fright, certain that the next set of headlights that flashed past would be accompanied by sirens. At two in the morning they arrived at a lay-by just outside the campus, where they had arranged to meet Tom. He was waiting for them. They quickly jumped into his less conspicuous Mini.
To Kate’s relief, Tom drove a lot faster than Matt, and they were soon speeding down the motorway at an almost dangerous velocity. Kate ignored the concerning creaks the old car made and caught Tom up on what had happened.
“So we want you to h
elp us release the videos we found on my – I mean, Katherine’s phone and set up a press conference to show people what the government has been doing, and the weapon stock they’ve got ready to use,” she finished. “We’ve got a sample of the bacteria to prove it’s real.”
Matt turned to look at her. He had been staring fixedly out of the window, watching for police cars. “Actually, Kate, we should hide the vial. We don’t want it to get confiscated when we cross the border.”
“Just hide it in your pocket,” Kate said. “They aren’t going to do a full body search.”
Matt nodded.
They drove until morning, when the sun was a thin red streak rising into the sky. Kate spent the journey worrying: not about the bacteria, but about her and Matt. She felt sure she going crazy. She still couldn’t find a rational explanation for what was happening to them. Since leaving CSL, they had been talking as if it had been them caught and killed twenty years ago – but that was impossible.
They were getting close to Scotland. The latest sign had said that the next turn-off was for the international border, as well as listing the nearest cities.
Kate stared at it. “Wait!” she shouted, looking back at the sign as they passed it with growing certainty.
“What?” Tom asked.
Matt just sighed, like he already knew what she wanted to do.
“Can we stop for a bit? In Carlisle?” she asked.
It had all become clear in her mind. She had to see Carlisle. She needed to find out whether all the things she remembered were real or not. She’d never been there, but somehow she had all these – memories? – of the city. If she could prove they weren’t real, that they didn’t match up with the true city, then it must be all in her head and she was crazy. However, if the Carlisle she remembered was accurate, then she’d have to finally pluck up the courage to talk to Matt about it, once and for all.
“But we’re only a couple of hours from home?” Tom said.
“I know. I’m just… I’m really hungry. Please?”
“We can just go to a drivethrou—”
“I’m hungry too,” Matt interrupted. “We’ve been up for almost twenty-four hours. I need a break.”
“What’s going on? Guys! We can’t just stop for breakfast.”
“Please, I need to!” Kate said, panicky, unable to explain herself, but knowing that they needed to stop.
“Just do it, Tom!” Matt shouted.
Tom muttered his disapproval, but took the turn-off.
Kate tried to breathe around the panic rising in her chest. Everything was going to make sense when they got to Carlisle: she knew it. She would work the rest of it out there. She had to, because she couldn’t keep going if she didn’t make sense of what was happening in her head.
Carlisle, England, 1745
“How do you feel?” Katherine asked when Matthew finally woke up after almost twelve hours of sleep.
“Dizzy. My chest hurts.” He struggled to sit up. He was in her bed again. She’d spent the night in the armchair, watching him.
“What do you think is wrong? I’ve never seen a disease like this before. Is it something they have in the future?” she asked, sitting beside him on the bed and pressing the wetted cloth against his hot skin.
“No. I don’t know what this is. I wasn’t ill before I came here.”
Katherine winced at the blistering ulcers covering his body. She wondered if he had smallpox, but it didn’t look right. Perhaps she should get a poultice to put on him? “Do you want me to get the doctor?”
“I’ll be all right,” he said. “Trust me. This is nothing eighteenth-century doctors can help me with. They probably still believe in humours.”
“Of course they believe in humours – they’re doctors!”
He somehow found the energy to give her an indignant lecture. “Humours don’t exist. Treating people based on a mythical explanation like humours usually does more harm than good. Bloodletting is barbaric!”
She frowned. “Are you trying to fool me again? Bloodletting helps people. My grandmother would have died a lot sooner if she hadn’t been bled once a day.”
“Bloodletting wouldn’t have harmed your grandmother as long as it wasn’t done too much, but it didn’t help her in any way. There are no such things as humours.”
She was quiet, trying to take that in. She’d never even questioned the existence of humours. They were an explanation of the world that made sense. What else did she think she knew that was completely wrong?
CHAPTER 30
Folios/v7/Time-landscape-2019/MS-163
CARLISLE, ENGLAND, 2039
The moment they arrived in Carlisle, Kate knew she had been there before. It was larger and more sprawling than she remembered, but there were still traces of the Carlisle she knew in the old buildings that had survived the years since she’d last been here in 1745. The town square had a department store, a pharmacy and a cafe instead of the dressmaker’s and greengrocer’s and butcher’s of her memories, but the cathedral was still there, ancient and immovable as always.
“Can we – can we just drive past the castle?” she asked, a little desperately.
“This is crazy,” Tom said. “Someone could find us any minute. What are you doing?”
“Please, Tom,” she said. “It’s important. We’ll be quick – I promise.”
“You have ten minutes. Then we have to leave,” he ordered.
She nodded her agreement. Matt was still watching her, worried, and she knew that he was experiencing the same sense of déjà vu that she was.
It was the castle that had changed the most. The moat was gone and instead neat lawns bordered the crumbling walls, and a busy dual carriageway thundered past the entrance. But it was still a military facility, with tanks parked in the car park as tourists wandered along the retired castle battlements.
Tom waited in the car, ready to drive off as soon as they were done, while Kate and Matt went inside. The castle was just opening for the day, and Kate impatiently bought tickets from a half-asleep attendant.
Matt was silent beside her. As they entered the castle courtyard, he grabbed her hand, holding on like an anchor. She shivered slightly, pulling him close.
They went straight up to the battlements, which were wider than she remembered and neatly paved and fenced. Kate took a deep breath, suddenly hearing the cannonfire that had echoed around the stones all those centuries ago.
> Time merging has reached 100% completion in time-landscape 2039
Matt let out a shuddering gasp beside her; she could feel him trembling.
Now she looked closer, she could see that much of the castle was exactly the same. She led Matt silently to where they had stood watching the Rebels digging trenches in the snow in 1745. Now it was a playground, and the sound of laughing children filled the ancient battlefield.
“It really happened, then,” she said, stroking a hand over the cold stone, worn with another three hundred years of weathering. The cannons were still there. She touched one of them, wondering if it was the same one that she had repaired with Matthew.
“I don’t understand,” he said hopelessly. “It was all real?”
“It was,” she confirmed. “We were here.”
“And … and other places. The Crimea?”
“And Bletchley Park. We were there too.”
He nodded. “Why? Why did it happen? Why do we keep coming back?”
“The closest we ever got to an explanation was witchcraft. Even now, three hundred years later, I don’t have a better reason.”
“There must be a reason. Why?”
“We keep helping,” Kate remembered. “We stopped the murder at Bletchley Park, saved Alan. We keep helping.”
“And now? Now we do what? Make sure the bacteria is destroyed? Stop an apocalypse before it starts?”
“Apparently.” She tried to push away the swells of a panic attack. They couldn’t do this: it was too much responsibility. They weren’t anything special.
“It’s really important, then,” he said, quiet, resigned. “If we’re here, if we were brought back again, it must be a huge, pivotal moment. It has been every other time, even if we didn’t know it then.”
“What if we fail?” Her voice was almost inaudible, breath misting in the cold morning air. “What happens next time? We come back and the world is a wasteland?”
“We won’t fail,” he said, determined. “This is what we’re here for. We can do this.”
She turned to him, pressing her face into his shoulder and breathing in deeply. He wrapped his arms around her, held her until they both stopped shaking. “We can do this,” he repeated.
Crimea, Ukraine, 1854
The encampment was quiet, almost peaceful, as Matthew and Katy rushed back from the front line to the tent where the generals were meeting to discuss the battle. A soldier stood on guard at the entrance, dozing on his feet as the generals inside planned their next move.
“I don’t think we should wait,” Matthew said. “It could happen any time.”
“Shall we just barge in?” Katy asked doubtfully.
“Yes?” Matthew took a hesitant step forward, eyeing the quiet horizon. “There isn’t any sign of rockets yet.”
Katy straightened her shoulders, cleared her throat and, regardless of anyone watching them, she leant up to kiss Matthew, quick and soft. “We can do this,” she promised. “It’s going to be fine.”
“See you on the other side.” He cupped her cheek, then pushed a curl of hair behind her ear.
She shivered. “Don’t say it like that. It makes it sound like you mean in the afterlife.”
He blinked once, twice, and it looked like he was going to cry, but then he smiled. “If that’s what it takes to find you again.”
“Oh, trust me. You aren’t getting rid of me now.” She kissed him again, and then finally pulled away. “Let’s save the world.”