by Mark Robson
‘It’s strange the way fate works. Losing Claire, Alex and Watson today should have crippled us, yet as a result, we may have gained the force we need to have a real chance of trying to take down the entire global pumping programme permanently,’ Sherri added, watching as Edison descended towards the small horde of raptors in the valley. ‘Claire talked about this for years, but none of us ever thought we’d be in a position to try it. If I know Einstein, we’re not going to see much of him for a while. He’s going to be tinkering with his machines day and night until they’re ready.’
‘Machines? What machines?’ Sam’s voice stabbed like a stiletto blade. At the mention of his mother, his eyes had ignited with fierce intensity and now they bored into Sherri. ‘If Einstein’s planning to follow up on something Mum wanted, then I want in on it.’
‘I don’t pretend to understand them,’ she replied with a shrug. ‘All I can tell you is that they are sort of ray-guns. The machines shoot beams of invisible particles that apparently increase the mass of whatever they hit. Einstein wants to direct the machines at the nuclear waste pumping shafts. He thinks he can mess with the pressures there in a way that will result in the simultaneous destruction of every pumping station around the world.’
‘God particles!’ Callum exclaimed. ‘You’re talking about a machine that produces a coherent stream of God particles.’
‘Erm . . . if you say so,’ Sherri replied, clearly flummoxed.
‘What are you talking about, Callum?’ Sam asked, turning his stare on his friend.
‘If it’s what I think, it means that raptors have discovered something that scientists in our world only started to look for recently,’ Callum replied excitedly. ‘You know when there was a big deal in the news about the possibility of the world ending when they switched on the LHC in Switzerland?’
‘LHC?’ Sam’s eyebrows twisted into a frown as he tried to work out what the letters meant.
‘Large Hadron Collider,’ Callum explained.
‘Oh, yeah! The big bang and all that.’
‘That’s right! The scaremongers were saying that by trying to recreate the conditions that scientists believe existed at the beginning of the universe, they might actually cause a miniature black hole and destroy the world. Anyway, I thought it was really interesting and read up on a lot of stuff about the experiments. One of the things they’re trying to do with the LHC is to prove the existence of a particle called the Higgs boson, which is supposed to add mass to matter.’
‘OK, let’s just assume for a moment that I followed all that, which is far from certain. . .’ Sam looked down at the ground, his focus distant as he mentally played back what Callum had just explained.‘I still don’t see why this Higgs thingy is such a big deal.’
‘To be honest, I don’t understand much of the physics behind it,’ Callum admitted. ‘But the idea of a machine that could create a coherent Higgs field for use as a weapon is terrifying. The effects would be devastating. Depending how strong the beam was and where you aimed it, you could produce destruction more extensive than the detonation of a nuclear bomb!’
Sam looked back up at Callum again and his eyes narrowed with disbelief. ‘You’re serious?’
‘Completely!’
‘What would the side-effects be?’ Sam asked. ‘Nuclear bombs can leave radiation that pollutes for millennia. What sort of after-effects would this Higgs particle weapon leave?’
‘Not a clue,’ Callum replied with a shrug. ‘No one’s even managed to confirm the existence of the particles in our world. You’d better ask Einstein that one.’
‘I will.’
Callum gave his friend a calculating look. ‘Sam, don’t get too involved. Your mum wanted you to try to go home. Sherri told me what your mum said before . . . before she died. We’ve got two flying machines now. They’re our ticket out of here. I just know they are. One of them’s had a bit of damage, but it won’t take much to fix and they’re really easy to fly. I can teach you in no time. Let Nathan and the others deal with the Imperium. It’s not our fight.’
‘Not your fight maybe,’ Sam replied, his eyes taking on a distant look again. ‘But my mum died for this cause so I’m not going anywhere for a while. If she had a plan, then I want to see it through. I’m going to make the Imperium pay for taking her away from me.’
‘Don’t be stupid, Sam! That’s your anger talking. If you let your feelings about what happened today rule you, then you’re just going to get yourself killed.’
‘And trying to fly into the eye of a hurricane in the next best thing to a box kite is going to be perfectly safe, I suppose? I don’t think so.’
‘Sam, you promised you would get me back.’
‘What?’
‘In the boat – when we crossed,’ Callum said. ‘You said you would get me back home. I’m going to hold you to your word, Sam. You got me into this. Now it’s time to go home. We’ve got the means. I’m asking you to keep your promise and come with me.’
‘You should listen to your friend, Sam,’ Sherri interrupted. ‘Nathan won’t be happy about you taking the flying machines, but I’ll support you. It was Claire’s dying wish, after all, and we don’t really need them. Stealing them was all about denying the Imperium the power of flight. I can’t see Nathan strapping himself into one of those contraptions and I certainly don’t want to do it.’
‘What about David? He built the machines. He has more claim on them than anyone,’ Sam pointed out. ‘Surely he should have a say in this? I know he wants to see the flying machines of our world. Why not take him with you, Cal? I’m sorry, but I’m not sure I’m ready to go home. Not yet.’
‘Sam, I’m never going to forgive you if you don’t come with me.’
‘Don’t say that, Cal,’ Sam pleaded. ‘It’s not that I don’t want to come with you. I meant what I said that day about getting you home, but that was before the Imperium killed Mum. Surely you can see how important this is to me. If Mum had a plan, then I want to finish what she started before I go home. If I don’t, I’m not sure I’d be able to live with myself.’
Callum shook his head. ‘I’m not ready to fall out with you. You’re tired, hurt and not thinking straight,’ he said. ‘It’s been a crazy day. Sleep on it. We’ll talk in the morning.’
Sam nodded. ‘Good idea.’ He took a final look down at the raptors in the valley before heading into the cave. Callum and Sherri followed him inside. Despite the louder than usual conversations both Sam and Callum were wrapped in their blankets and asleep within just a few minutes. For Sam, however, sleep brought no escape from pain.
* * *
By the time day finally broke, Sam felt terrible. His eyes burned and his stomach ached from twisting and turning inside until it felt like it was knotted tight. Throughout the night he had been plagued by nightmares. Pursued by raptors through tunnels, woods and across fields, he had battled for survival again and again.
In some of his dreams he had stayed with his mother as she had held the rearguard during their flight from the Imperium search parties. In others he had gone with Nipper to the Central Square to challenge for her life, but every dream ended the same way: with the one image that burned in his mind with crystal clarity. Over and over he saw his mother being impaled. Now he was awake, the picture seemed to be imprinted on his retinas. No matter where he looked, he saw it. And every time he did, his eyes filled with tears.
Peeling off his blanket, he stretched and got up. He needed a distraction, something to focus on. Callum was still fast asleep. Sam stared at him for a moment and his chest tightened with emotion as he considered again if he should deliberately part company with his friend. It was hard to imagine not having him close by, especially after all the recent adventures they had shared. It wasn’t just Callum either. He knew he was gambling with the chance of never seeing his father and sister again, which added a whole different dimension to his feelings of guilt. However, neither sleep, guilty sadness at breaking his promise to Callum nor the r
isk of never getting home served to change his mind. His resolve had hardened overnight. If Einstein had a way of destroying the pumping stations, then Sam was determined to stay and help make the plan work.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Niamh rolled on to her back, opened her eyes and stared upward. Although her body felt desperately tired, her mind was far too active to allow her the blissful descent into sleep. A hard line of light round her door made a stark contrast with the gentle moonlight seeping in round the edges of the curtains. The combination lit the room enough for Niamh to see the swirling Artex patterns across the ceiling. Forcing her body to relax still further, she concentrated on following the lines of the patterns with her eyes in an effort to clear her head of worries and unwanted images.
The visit to the prison today had been disturbing on many levels. She still felt degraded by the experience, although she knew it to be an unwarranted and irrational response. The thought of what her father was going through made her want to cry. It was not just the loss of freedom and privacy, but of so many other simple things that most took for granted. And what had he done to deserve it? Nothing! It was not fair. She wrapped her arms across her body and hugged herself, remembering again how good it had felt to hold and be held by him.
I’ll get you out of there, Dad, she thought. I don’t know how yet, but I’ll do it somehow.
Perhaps worse than seeing her father in that awful place was the image of her mother that she couldn’t get out of her mind. Was it real? Had Sam really seen it or was her imagination playing tricks on her? Much as she wanted to believe the latter, Niamh could not bring herself to believe it. It had been too vivid – too real. She had felt Sam’s pain as if it was her own and although she did not understand his mix of emotions, she could also still feel the searing heat of his anger surging through her like a roaring flame. Her heart had reflected her brother’s pain and sorrow like a mirror, though she felt no anger. It was this difference that convinced her she was not suffering from an overactive imagination.
Rolling over again, she reached down the side of her bed and felt around until she found her laptop. She lifted it on to the bed and shuffled up, twisting her top pillow upright and settling it behind her back so that she could sit up and lean back comfortably.
She opened the screen and pressed the start button. The sudden light from the screen seemed unnaturally bright in the dark room and she found herself forced to squint, nearly shutting her eyes to reduce the glare until they had a chance to adjust.
The boot-up sequence seemed to take forever. Niamh drummed her fingernails impatiently against the laptop until the wireless internet icon finally showed as connected. Moments later, she had logged into Facebook and her eyes went straight to the chat box at the bottom right of the screen. It showed just two of her friends online. The clock just below chat showed 02:04, which meant it was just after nine o’clock in the evening in Florida. She clicked on the box, praying that one of the two was Tony.
The list expanded up the page. His name was on the list, but the dot next to his name was grey, indicating he was not connected. Given his position on the list, it looked as though she had just missed him. For a moment, Niamh experienced an almost overwhelming sense of desperation and frustration. She closed her eyes and counted to ten. Why wasn’t anything going her way today?
She opened her eyes and was ready to log off when she suddenly saw the dot next to Tony’s name turn green, indicating he was online again. In a flash, she had clicked on his name, typed Hi Tony and hit send.
There was a brief pause and the little icon next to his name began to swirl, indicating he was typing a reply. The popping noise as his response arrived sent a thrill through her.
Hi Niamh. A bit late for you, isn’t it? Can’t sleep?
No. Visited Dad today and now I can’t get the prison out of my head. Wish I was back in the Keys.
I wish you were here, too. Missing you.
Missing you too. But Dad says we’ll be coming back at the first opportunity. There’s going to be a preliminary court hearing soon and he says his lawyer will try to get the case dismissed for lack of evidence. I just hope he’s successful.
Fingers crossed. From what you’ve told me about your Aunt Aggie, I’m surprised she let you go and see him.
She didn’t.
Ah! Up to your old tricks again! What did you steal this time? A car? A train maybe?
Lol. Nothing like that. Aunt Aggie has no idea that I went. My cousin helped me and we got there and back without her realising.
The annoying one? Archie?
Yep. He might be an irritating geek, but it turns out he’s a bit of a wizard at organising things.
Niamh nearly laughed out loud as she typed the word wizard. Given Archie’s love of the word, she bet he would be delighted if he knew that someone had used it to describe him.
They continued with their typed conversation for some time, in particular discussing her father’s notes and what her Dad had said about the possible link between the electromagnetic phenomenon and the possibility of a gateway to another world, but eventually Niamh’s eyes grew so heavy that she decided to try sleeping again. Talking with Tony, even via a chat facility on the computer, had helped to restore calm to her sea of emotion. She signed off and placed the laptop back down next to the bed.
Although her mind was still active as she settled back down, this time sleep claimed her and if she dreamed, there were no remnants haunting her when she woke the next morning.
* * *
‘Wow, Callum! What did you do to it?’
Sam looked at the tattered lower wing of the flying machine and the mangled remnants of the undercarriage in amazement as David made a closer study of the damage. Even with the three of them it had been a struggle to pull it out from where Callum and David had secreted it under the trees.
‘I flew it through a tree. What does it look like?’ Callum replied, trying to make the statement sound as though this was an everyday occurrence.
‘And you want to teach me how to fly?’ Sam laughed. ‘You’ve got to be kidding!’
‘In my defence, I did fly through it deliberately,’ he said huffily.
‘Yes, of course you did,’ Sam agreed, nodding sagely. ‘I’m sure it’s one of the first things you learn when you start flying.’ He changed his voice to make it sound like an imaginary flying instructor. ‘Now then chaps, make sure you fly through at least one tree today. Remember, it’s an essential part of your nesting qualification. We don’t want those pesky birds getting all superior and thinking they own the place, do we?’
Callum laughed. ‘Perish the thought!’ he added.
‘I’m going to need some materials if I’m going to fix this mess,’ David interrupted from underneath the machine. ‘And tools. The damage is more extensive than I first thought, but it’s not a total disaster. I’m going back to the cave to see if I can enlist the help of Einstein and Newton. Do you want to stay here and watch over the machine, or shall we push it back under the trees so you can come with me?’
‘We’ll come with you,’ Sam decided. ‘I doubt it’s a good idea for any of us to travel even short distances alone at the moment.’
Directed by David, they lifted the machine and eased it out of the open and under the cover of the trees. They spent a few minutes attempting to camouflage it, but there was no way of completely covering the aircraft. All they could do was break up its outline and hope for the best.
‘We should set up a guard round the machines,’ David said. ‘Having gone to the trouble of stealing them, it would be crazy to let the Imperium take them back at will.’
‘Makes sense,’ Sam agreed. ‘I’ll ask Nathan about it while you sort out what you need with Einstein and Newton. With all the new recruits we gained overnight, I doubt a guard will prove much of a problem.’
Sam was right. Nathan was glad to have a task that he could assign some of the new raptor recruits that would make them feel useful. The number of rap
tors in the valley did not seem anywhere near as large as they had been the previous evening, but this was because Nathan had already organised some into hunting parties and guard patrols. The new group of raptors was far too large to house in the cave, so he had appointed scouts and sent them out into the surrounding countryside to look for another concealed site that they could use as a base for so many raptors.
‘We’re going to need some sort of a screening process for new recruits,’ Nathan growled as he prowled up and down at the base of the waterfall. Every now and then he threw a glance at the remaining crowd of raptors camped in the base of the valley. ‘I’m fairly confident there won’t be any Imperium spies among this lot. The Council clearly didn’t anticipate this response to what happened in the plaza yesterday, so they had no time to organise infiltrators. They won’t take long though. The Council of the Imperium are no fools. I wish your mother was here, kid. She was great at organising stuff like this.’
Sam winced at the mention of his mum, but if Nathan noticed, he showed no sign of it. ‘You’re doing a good job, Nathan,’ Sam replied, choking the words out. ‘I’m sure Mum would be pleased with the way you’re setting things up. So you’re OK with setting up a guard and sending some of the new raptors out to scavenge parts for David?’
‘Yeah, well, I’m not so sure about doing a good job, but you can leave organising a watch for the machines with me. In fact, I’ll get Edison to go and set something up right now. Grunt can take a few of the newcomers to look for David’s materials. I’ll send him over to find out what they’re looking for next time I see him. If I had my way, I’d destroy the ruddy things. As far as I can see, they’re a liability, but if David and Callum are crazy enough to want to fly them again, they might yet prove useful.’