by Dean Waite
Either way I had no time to worry about it now. There were more important things to worry about as we raced past the Wheel and shot into the mouth of the Grand Arbour, a tunnel formed from Bougainvillea plants covered in bright magenta blooms, weaving their way over a seemingly endless series of curling, tendril-like steel columns joined by thin stainless-steel cables. Things like the gorilla of a man standing in the middle of the path ahead of us with what looked like an oversized bazooka resting on his shoulder and pointing straight at us!
It wasn’t till I noticed a red dot hovering on the open barrel of the guy’s weapon that I realised Veronica’s right hand was nimbly manoeuvring a small joystick on the armrest of her door. A split-second later, her thumb pressed a red button on top of the joystick and I glanced back to see what looked like a bolt of lightening shoot from somewhere at the front of our car. Faster than the eye could follow, it reached the barrel of the enormous weapon … and the gorilla-man, along with his bazooka, was enveloped within a thunderous explosion!
I guess whatever he’d been about to fire at us from that thing must have had a really powerful explosive charge, ‘cause a moment later, when we hurtled through the spot where he’d been standing, the car encountered nothing but smoke and air.
It was like the guy had literally been blown to dust!
*****
14
We flew onwards, the steel supports of the living tunnel of vines disappearing past us, one after the other, in a blinding blur while the tunnel curved gently round to the left. Then, for the first time since Snake Eyes had materialised before my very eyes, I actually saw it happen again. One moment the tunnel ahead was clear except for a few panicked pedestrians diving for cover. The next, there was something I could only describe as a tank, crouched forty metres ahead and blocking the entire passageway! Watching a man appear out of thin air back at the Transit Centre had been nothing short of astonishing. But an entire tank was on a whole new level! I felt a sickening wave of nausea. All of a sudden, my doubts about Veronica’s story had vanished into thin air, just like Gorilla man had a few seconds ago. There was simply no way that any movie crew, no matter how talented, could have made that happen!
This was real … and Veronica and I were fighting for our lives!
“That really cost ‘em,” I heard Veronica murmur cryptically while we hurtled towards the tank.
While I wrestled with the frightening truth and also tried to guess what she meant about it ‘costing’ them, I saw flames erupt from the mouth of the tank’s over-sized gun and heard it bark. Veronica yanked the wheel hard right and I braced myself for the impact with the steel girders along the side of the Arbour … as well as with whatever that tank had just sent our way. But as I felt the shockwave of something deadly blasting past just outside my door, I realised there was a gap about twenty metres long down the right-hand side of the arbour. With a healthy dose of relief, I remembered that these sorts of large openings were situated all along the arbour to provide easy access to the walkway.
Rocketing from the Bougainvillea tunnel, we veered sharply towards a large building. I immediately recognised it as the Piazza – a circular performance area with banks of seats rising up away from a bare concrete floor. As we flew in through a large opening, I heard a loud screeching sound from behind us. When I looked round, I realised the ‘tank’ was actually quite different to what I’d first thought. Rather than one of those heavy, lumbering hulks I was familiar with, this one must have ultra-light armour and a brute of an engine, ‘cause it was accelerating after us with phenomenal speed while its gun turret swivelled smoothly round, trying to get us in its sights!
I remembered the power I’d sensed outside my window as whatever that thing had fired earlier had whizzed past us. Whatever protection this car might have, there was little doubt in my mind that it was going to be completely trashed if one of those scored a direct hit.
And us with it!
We flew across the circular performance area towards a large exit tunnel on the far side. But I knew we weren’t going to make it before the tank’s gun zeroed in. Fortunately, just when I felt sure the tank must have us lined up, Veronica flung the wheel hard left. There was a second muffled explosion from behind us and another lethal projectile skimmed past - this time on Veronica’s side. She held the wheel hard over until we’d spun through almost one-eighty degrees, and when she finally straightened it, we were pointing diagonally away from the low wall that curved round most of the performance area. Peering through the windscreen, I now had a perfect view of the tank, which had skidded to a halt at the centre of the Piazza, its gun once more swivelling round, trying to line us up. This time, however, the gun wasn’t my only concern. Veronica’s lightning-fast turn might have momentarily gotten us out of the firing line, but it had hardly altered our momentum at all. We’d gone from racing headlong towards the exit at about 80km/h, to hurtling backwards and sideways at about 75km/h on a collision course with the curved concrete wall just to the left of the exit!
While I prayed this thing had heaps of air-bags, Veronica flattened the accelerator. The fat tyres spun crazily, struggling to arrest our momentum as thick, black smoke billowed up around us. Then we hit the wall, but incredibly it was little more than a rough jolt, the powerful wheels having done their job of bleeding away most of our momentum. I heard the high-pitched screech of metal on concrete as our sideways motion scraped the back of the car along the wall for a metre or so, then we pulled away and began accelerating around the big circular area.
The tank was still stationary at the centre of the Piazza, its gun turret swinging after us while we screeched around the concrete floor like hoons doing massive donuts in the local car park. Unfortunately, with the gun arcing round behind us, I knew we couldn’t escape the building yet - the only thing keeping it from lining us up was our sideways motion, so straightening up to make a mad dash for the exit would be a fatal error.
Thankfully, Veronica was doing an impressive job of increasing our lead on the tank’s rotating barrel. Within seconds, we’d done one complete revolution of the area and I estimated we’d soon have enough of a lead to risk making a break for it.
Then the gun suddenly stopped and started moving in the opposite direction!
“The gun’s changed direction!” I snapped anxiously at Veronica.
“I know,” she replied tensely, her face a study of concentration as she watched it spin swiftly round toward us.
I was still staring at her, so I saw her tongue move oddly in her mouth and guessed she’d just activated one of her ‘tooth switches’. A moment later, I heard a rapid series of ‘pops’ from somewhere above us as she threw the steering wheel back to the right. The car swerved round, seemingly out of control. But moments later we were pointing back out at the Arbour and she hit the gas hard.
When I glanced up through the sunroof, I nearly had a heart attack. The huge collection of heavy spotlights used to light up the performance area was supported by a massive, circular complex of trusses suspended from the ceiling. The scaffolding was almost as big as the circular floor area and a large screen measuring perhaps two metres high and three wide hung at its centre. Somehow, this entire network was now plummeting towards the floor … and we were under it!
I watched the thing fall every inch of the way … and saw it miss the back of our car by just millimetres as we shot back out of the Piazza the same way we’d gone in.
The tank wasn’t so lucky. The thing hadn’t even started to move when the screen hit it and the entire weight of the scaffolding drove it through the light armour like a guillotine blade through an unprotected neck, severing the vehicle in two.
I was only halfway through a sigh of relief when I noticed a motorbike flying towards us round a curve in the Grand Arbour.
*****
15
It was the bikie chick whose partner was lying back in the Melbourne Street underpass with a serious case of split-personality. And even from twenty metres away
, she looked really pissed off!
While we shot across the Arbour toward the River, she greeted us with another of those over-sized missiles of hers. Thankfully, with Veronica’s foot planted firmly on the accelerator, our car shot forward so quickly the thing rocketed past our back window and annihilated a sizeable chunk of the Grand Arbour instead. As we briefly became airborne and then touched back down on the concrete path on the other side, I thanked my lucky stars again that those bigger missiles weren’t laser targeted!
Still gathering speed, we zigged right then zagged left, hugging the side of the path as it wound down to the River. I knew bikie-girl had to be right behind us when, over the noise of our engine, I vaguely made out the sound of one of those smaller laser-targeted missiles! Glancing back, I almost had a heart attack – the thing looked like it was just outside our back window!
There was no time to avoid it so I knew we were in for some pain. Then all of a sudden the air behind us shimmered and the missile simply stopped in mid-air before dropping towards the path. I let out a sigh of relief, feeling far happier now that I knew our car had a shield-field powerful enough to somehow neutralise the propulsion system in those things!
A moment later, Veronica hit the brakes and flung the car sharp right onto the wider River walk that hugged the river bank, stretching ahead of us for a couple of kilometres. When I glanced back again, I saw the missile hit the ground and explode just after bikie-girl had driven past it. I was very impressed that she somehow managed to stay on the bike. Still, the shockwave must have stunned her pretty badly, ‘cause instead of turning to follow us, she kept speeding straight at the low rock wall at the edge of the River. The last I saw of her, she was doing a pretty good impression of an emu soaring out over the Brisbane River (if you didn’t know, an emu is a large, flightless Australian bird which would probably look almost as awkward as bike-girl did if you hurled it through the air at ninety km/h!)
I would have loved to have seen her landing, but sadly I was forced to turn back when the g-forces from our phenomenal acceleration threatened to snap my neck. When my head was once again supported by the seat’s headrest, I actually felt myself smiling at the incredible sensation of raw speed as we raced along the River walk with panicked pedestrians diving frantically out of our way. I noticed that the ones diving left into the River didn’t seem to have their swimmers on; but for some reason that didn’t seem to worry them too much.
After a couple of hundred metres or so it occurred to me that the path ahead of us was still noticeably clear of enemies.
“They’ve lost us,” Veronica said as if she’d read my mind. “The woman on the bike mustn’t have had time to report our movements.”
“Huh?” I asked insightfully.
Despite our blistering speed, as we followed the gently curving path round to the right past the lagoon area, she threw me a quick glance.
“That’s how they manage to get these bozos to appear right where we’re headed all the time – the previous guys send an update on our movements back to the future so the team there knows where to send the next assassins.”
“So we’re safe now?” I asked hopefully.
A wry grin touched those sensational lips of hers. “Not for long – they know where we were, so they’ll just send assassins to various points around there until they locate us. I’m afraid it won’t take them long. But it’ll certainly cost them.”
I frowned.
“Why do you keep talking about it ‘costing’ them?”
“Energy-wise, it’s an expensive exercise sending something back through Time. Sahissi might have access to enormous quantities of energy from power stations right across the globe, but eventually he’ll run out. The question is will our meagre supply, courtesy of the tiny Australian energy grid, outlast his.”
“How could we possibly outlast him if he’s got so much more than us?” I asked doubtfully.
“It’s not just about who’s got more,” she explained. “It’s also about how they use it. For instance, Sahissi used up almost half of his entire supply just opening the Time Channel through to here. Yet we were able to locate it and piggy-back things through using only a tiny fraction of the energy he burnt up.
“And think about the types of things both sides have sent back. Pound for pound it takes heaps more energy to transport a living thing, so we’ve relied more on sending equipment than personnel. Meanwhile, Sahissi has been sending anything and everything he damn well pleases. Although he can certainly afford that luxury for some time, his wastefulness and over-confidence will be costing him big-time. He probably thought he’d wipe you out with his very first assassin, ‘cause at that point, he hadn’t realised I was in the game. But by now, I reckon he’ll be starting to sweat about how little energy he has left.” A dry smile touched her lips. “Of course, given the type of arrogant bastard he is, instead of being more careful, he’ll just try hitting us even harder before he completely runs out.”
While she’d been speaking, Veronica had slowed and veered the car smoothly to the right, off the River walk and onto a path leading diagonally away from it. Now, up ahead I could see the bright blooms of the Grand Arbour again. Before I knew it, we were turning back into the living tunnel of bright purple flowers and accelerating away to the east.
Despite Veronica’s insistence that they would find us again soon, I felt myself beginning to relax as I glanced around at our decidedly non-hostile surroundings.
“Perhaps he’s already run out,” I ventured. “Maybe we’ve won!”
“’Fraid not,” she replied matter-of-factly.
I felt myself bristle at her pessimism.
“What makes you so sure?” I asked shortly.
She threw me a quick grin.
“Have you forgotten already? You told me.”
While I struggled to digest her words, we flew out of the end of the Arbour and she cut left, heading for the Goodwill pedestrian bridge which arced back over the River. I told her!
“What do you mean, I told you?” I demanded.
“Try to keep up, Darling - you told me pretty much everything you know about today,” she reminded me matter-of-factly.
Turning red again at being called ‘Darling’, I blinked. I had almost forgotten. Or perhaps it was just that my mind had refused to accept it at the time. Either way, as we accelerated up the gentle rise of the bridge, I struggled to get my head around the ludicrous idea. She actually believed she knew exactly what was going to happen because I had told her about it in the future!
“So if you know it all, why the hell don’t you just avoid these mongrels?”
I frowned as a dark shadow seemed to pass across her face before a determined grimace settled on those exquisite features of hers.
“Because nothing’s set in stone,” she told me flatly, her voice thick with emotion. “If I change anything, you might not survive today after all. And I simply couldn’t bear that.”
Once again, I was lost for words. Could it really be true? She was deliberately acting out this bizarre drama as closely as possible to a script which I had taught her … all because she thought it ended with me still breathing!
Before I could even begin to think it through properly, I saw her eyes widen and whipped my head round to stare ahead. About forty metres in front of us, a three metre high wall that completely blocked the bridge had just materialised out of thin air! A wall built out of boulders the size of refrigerators!
“We’ve gotta turn back!” I told her frantically.
“We can’t,” she replied evenly as her left hand flew to a keypad at the centre of the steering wheel.
Confused, I twisted round to peer back along the bridge … and the bottom fell out of my stomach when I saw three more motorbikes and two jeep-like vehicles appear from nowhere and accelerate up the bridge after us! Veronica had been right – Sahissi was trying to hit us hard, determined to finish the job before his energy gave out!
From what Veronica had told me, it had
really ‘cost him’ this time. Unfortunately, it was about to cost us a whole lot more!
I spun back to find the massive wall looming just thirty metres ahead of us.
“Can’t you blast through it?” I asked, desperately hoping our car had some kind of serious fire-power capability that Veronica hadn’t yet deployed.
“No point … even if I could, those pursuit vehicles will blow us to bits any second now. And anyway, there’s another one of those tanks waiting just on the other side.”
As if to confirm the first part of her gloomy prediction, I heard what sounded like about four of those thuggish missiles racing at us from behind.
She was right. We didn’t stand a chance.
I suddenly wondered whether she’d lied about me surviving today. Perhaps my ‘future self’ had actually told her this was where and when we both got blown to pieces! And as I wrestled with the idea that if this was true then I wouldn’t have been alive to tell her in the first place, my eyes settled on the display above her steering wheel keypad. Curiously, the three glowing blue letters said ‘6mv’. While I puzzled over what this might mean, I twisted round and was less than overjoyed to discover I’d underestimated - there were actually six huge red missiles rocketing towards our rear bumper!