Timekeepers

by Dave Weaver

  Jack studied her bitter expression. “Portia, I’m not being funny and don’t bite my head off but why do you care so much about the EGs? It’s disgusting and I know your boyfriend’s one, but…”

  “It’s not just Michael, Jack! It’s everybody. How many more Callevan EGs will have to live in fear of being tortured, have their families living in constant danger? Silas Borg’s a monster! We’ve got to keep the eyes of the world on him until Rome has the guts to do what’s right.”

  Quite a speech and she obviously meant every word. He was ready to let it drop but she hadn’t finished. “You still don’t get it, do you?” She paused for a moment before continuing in a cooler voice. “I hear you met Paolo in the Control Room yesterday. Did he tell you what happened to his family last year?”

  “Your dad mentioned something but not the details.” Jack replied.

  “When Paolo’s parents applied for their Ectogenetic Family License they took the risk all EG couples do who want to have a child. In their case, they were unlucky. Paolo’s mother gave birth to twins; strictly illegal under the laws of the Empire. One family, one child is the limit for all EGs. Other client countries make sure such a thing never happens by regularly scanning the mother in pregnancy, so that if there are multiple embryos only one is allowed to go to full term, which is bad enough in itself. However, when Borg became State Governor twenty years ago he immediately banned any interference with the unborn child. He said it was against God’s wishes for man to intervene in an ‘artificial creature’s’ birth. What he was really doing, of course, was trying to control and terrorise the EG population of Romano Briton. He thought that if a couple didn’t know until the last minute whether they’d have a child taken away from them at birth it would make them think twice about starting a family in the first place. In the early days many EGs managed to save their children by finding out if they were carrying twins and then giving birth to them in private hospitals run by sympathetic Normals. One of the children would be brought up publicly as theirs, while the other one would be adopted by friends using false birth certificates and I-Dents bought on the black market. Borg soon put a stop to all that though. He made it a crime for anyone, Normal or EG, to conceal an EG sibling from the authorities. The punishment was death. There were no exceptions.”

  “And Paolo’s parents?” Jack asked.

  “Paolo’s parents are EG Romano Britons, Jack.” Portia told him. “This is their country. They secretly gave Paolo’s twin sister Ciara away to friends when she was born, along with all the expensive fake documentation they’d managed to buy. It must have nearly bankrupted them, but for fourteen years it worked.”

  “Fourteen years?”

  “Didn’t Dad tell you about their accelerated growth rate?” Portia asked him impatiently. “For the first ten years of their lives the EGs grow at double the speed of Normals. Fourteen years of existence would make an EG twenty four.”

  “Right…” Jack agreed hurriedly.

  “Then last year,” Portia continued, “while Ciara was away studying at the Academy of Padua they were arrested in the middle of the night. There was no trial. They were sentenced to death for hiding an unauthorised EG sibling and executed the following week. Paolo knew nothing until he heard about it on the news reports. Their friends met the same fate, so now both Paolo and his sister are orphans, her doubly so.”

  “Who betrayed them?” Jack asked. He could hardly believe what he’d just heard.

  “The same bastard who betrayed Brusus and his sister.” Portia replied. “It must have been one of the other EGs at the Institute. They all used to share their secrets with each other but now no one talks about their families. It would be like giving them a death sentence.”

  “When did this last…?”

  “REEEPP!” Before Jack could finish, the electronic shrill of a car siren made them both jump. Running parallel to them across the hover way he saw a bright orange car stacked with young men and women in bright suits, fluorescent skirts and tops similar to the revellers he’d seen in the clubs and bars on his dream trip to Calleva. They were all waving at Portia, except for the guy driving who was preoccupied with trying to keep the overloaded craft on an even course.

  “Looks like trouble.” Jack said, swivelling around to get a better view of their pursuers.

  “It’s Okay, I know those guys. What the hell are they up to? We haven’t got time for this!”

  “I think…” Jack said realising the forest of waving arms and pointing fingers was actually semaphoring a ‘pull-over’ message, “…they want us to stop.”

  “Jupiter! We’ll never make it to the Hydro at this rate.”

  She leaned out of the car’s window and shouted across the rushing hover-way surface, the wind splaying the curls of her hair back across the glass canopy. “What? What do you guys want? We’ve got to get to Michael! He’s waiting for us at a hydroport!” She was almost screaming now against the funnelling air. The two cars must be doing over a hundred and fifty miles an hour, Jack thought. If they touched each other for an instant they’d both be catapulted into oblivion. That would solve everything.

  The reply was whipped away on the wind. He only heard the name ‘Titus’ and the word ‘Stop!’

  Portia shouted something back, there was a muffled reply then she popped her head back inside the car. Her face was set in a grimace of frustration, eyes streaming with tears from the windblast. Without looking at him or offering a word of explanation she pulled the car over to the shoulder of the hover-way and slowed until they hung at a standstill. She cut the power and they sank gently to the ground, just as the orange car backed up behind them.

  The little group leapt out and began banging frantically on the windows, as if they were afraid Portia might take off again. She frowned at Jack. “They’re from Michael’s group; they’re saying Titus tricked us. We’d better get out.”

  She pushed open the car’s door, forcing the EGs to step back. Jack scrambled out of his seat and walked around the vehicle to where she was already having a heated conversation with two of them, a blond-haired boy in a yellow and black striped suit and an intense looking girl with dark cropped hair almost wearing a very short lime green dress and white thigh-high boots. The others looked past them as Jack approached.

  Portia broke off the debate and grabbed his arm to pull him next to her. “This is my friend, Jack, the guy I told you all about.”

  They nodded or grunted at him. He felt their grey eyes’ cold appraisal. The blond boy spoke directly to him. “You’re in trouble, Jack, Titus has betrayed you. He’s told the State Troopers exactly where you’re going. That’s why you haven’t seen any roadblocks; they want to make sure you walk straight into their trap. We’ve been bugging his phone for the last three weeks, since Brusus was captured. He’s probably to blame for that as well. We’ve suspected for some time that he was telling his friends at the Ministry about our activities. Every project’s got screwed up recently.”

  “And now we’ve caught the little shit red-handed!” His dark-haired friend had a look of violent anger etched into her pretty face. “What the hell are you doing with this guy, Portia, and why did you switch off your phone? We’ve been chasing you idiots for the last twenty miles!”

  “I had to, Helena. You know they can trace them anywhere.”

  “So we’ve had to risk our lives chasing after you and this clown?”

  “How did you know where we were?” Portia asked.

  “I phoned Michael immediately to find out what was going on. He said he’d kill Titus when he got his hands on him, said you’d be halfway to Noviomagnus by now. He told us your route and to stay with you ‘till he could get there. He should be with us pretty soon.” Her voice raised an octave, the grey eyes drilling into Portia. “I’ve never understood why he bothered with you. There’s been nothing but trouble in the group since we let you join. What the hell do you want with us anyway? You’re just another stinking Normal deep down! Michael doesn’t love you:
it’s just your connections at the Centre. He’s using you!”

  Portia’s eyes began to well with tears of genuine hurt as her face flushed. When she finally replied her voice sounded thin. “I joined you guys because I believed in the cause, Helena, not because I was chasing your boyfriend. That just happened. I won’t apologise for falling in love with Michael, and I’m not going to spend the rest of my life fighting you.” The tears had stopped now and the voice hardened; the same tone Jack had heard her use when he’d questioned Michael’s motives. “We’ve got more important things to talk about than our love lives. Whatever you think about me I suggest you keep it to yourself until we manage to get Jack to safety. Now if you’ll be so kind…” Portia pushed the shorter girl out of her way and addressed the rest of them. “We were trying to get Jack out of the country tonight but it looks like we’re screwed. We can’t let Borg get hold of him. He’s up to something nasty and Jack’s part of it. They’re searching for me as well, so I need one of you lot to look after him until we can try this again.”

  “What the hell’s so important about this Normal anyway?” A large red-haired boy Jack recognised as the frantic driver spoke up.

  Portia fixed him with a patient stare. “Lucius, as I’ve already explained, Jack’s different…”

  Helena cut in again. “Yeah, he’s different alright, but not from you! Why should we risk our lives helping some Normal just because he’s on the run from Borg?”

  “Because he’s from the past; from a different…reality for Jupiter’s sake!”

  One of them began to laugh. “Come on Portia, not that again. All that stuff they tell you at the Centre’s a load of crap. People don’t just jump through time!”

  She must have said something in reply but Jack was no longer listening. He gazed past them all to the surrounding landscape of darkened fields and factories, an industrial waste ground stretching off into the distance either side of the hover-way’s bright strip. It must be nearly two o’clock in the morning by now, a thin crescent of moon shedding the only light beyond the harsh neon out across the dark rolling hillside. There was something in his mind; a presence that was pulling his thoughts back to Michael’s scruffy flat; the sparse furnishings and unmade bed, the lack of any photographs or pictures anywhere, no holo-books or personal belongings on the empty shelves, not even a few scattered clothes on the floor. This was not the apartment of an ordinary young man; a come and go crash-pad full of the ordinary junk of living. This was a lair, a base of operations; cold, impersonal, temporary. The eye in his head roved around the memory of the room, the infinitesimal detail his blotting paper mind still held long after the event. In a shadowy corner hastily covered by a blanket was the outline of a box-shaped object. There was a small gap where he could see a dull metal surface. If he squinted he could see a little red light winking through the gloom. Their host must have been about to eat when Portia rang the bell. He looked around at the group arguing amongst themselves and tried to speak but his voice was dry with fear.

  He took a deep breath. “Shut up for Christ’s sake!

  “Who?”

  “Don’t you understand? Michael’s sold you out. He’s told you to wait here for him but he’s sent the Troopers to get you, to get me!”

  They all turned to glare. The Helena girl spoke first. “What the hell’s he talking about?’

  “It’s true; you’ve got to believe me. Get away before it’s too late. They’ll be here any moment and you’ll all get done for treason!”

  She shook her head in a pitying manner as if humouring a lunatic. “Michael would never betray his own people…”

  “You’re not his bloody people! He’s had something done to his eyes but he’s a Normal, like me. He joins groups like yours then betrays them to Borg.” Jack turned to a shocked looking Portia. “I saw a compu-chef at his apartment tonight, I’ve just remembered.”

  Her reply was as hostile as it had been in the car when he’d first doubted Michael. “Not this again, Jack!” But she was rattled, her eyes sliding away to the horizon. “He probably got it for me. I’m always round there.”

  “Don’t lie for him, Portia! I saw your face when we went inside. You’ve never been there before in your life. Don’t you get it? He might be a poor unfortunate genius to you but he’s really a spy; Borg’s spy. He put him into WCTS to keep tabs on your father’s work. He probably found out about that nurse’s brother and Paolo’s sister, all the other EGs’ family secrets. He recruited you into this bunch so as to compromise Lucas; a terrorist daughter will come in really handy when Borg gets him fired and has the State take over the running of the Centre.”

  “You’re the one who’s lying, Jack!”

  “He told me his full number sequence. Paulo told me they never do that for Normals but he forgot for the moment, probably showing off for my benefit.”

  “No!” But there was the dawning of truth in her eyes.

  “Did he ever tell you where he was the night your mother died? And did you ever ask him, did you check it out?” It was a gamble.

  Her face crumpled. “Oh no! Jupiter…”

  “Portia, I’m sorry…” He began, but she was already moving.

  “Get in the car, we’ve got to go!”

  Chapter 18

  He had his fingers on the door switch when he heard the whooshing noise. A millisecond later the orange car behind flipped into the air followed by a crack of flames as it bounced down onto the scorched concrete. The blast knocked his legs away; he must have blacked out. Now he found himself spread-eagled at the bottom of an embankment running along the hover-way’s side. He could hear panicky shouts from above then another crump of explosion rocked the night. Standing at eye-level to the hover-way’s surface he could see figures moving around in the smoke of the burning cars. Helena made a break for the opposite side, almost reaching it before a thin red beam hit her in the back and she sprawled lifelessly. The ginger-haired driver had one leg of his suit enveloped in flames. He thrashed around until another beam found him through dirty grey smoke.

  A shadowy figure moved out from behind one of the smouldering wrecks to make a running jump down the embankment twenty yards to his left. As he heard a guttural command to stop from one of the Troopers, he saw Portia’s face caught in the moonlight, a burn mark across one cheek. She saw Jack and ran towards him. He grabbed her hand and they began to run across the scrubland stretching between the hover-way and the fence of a distant factory. Beams sliced the air around their heads. Breathlessly they somehow reached the fence. Jack bent down and clasped his hands together, motioning Portia to place a foot on top. He propelled her with all his might up the metal mesh so that she could make a lunging grab for the top. She pulled herself up then reached down a hand to pull him up after her.

  As he swung a leg up to straddle the fence Portia ducked her head down instinctively to dodge a beam and lost her balance. She grabbed the arm of his leather jacket dragging them both backwards to fall painfully onto the yard’s hard surface. Jack pulled her up but she immediately gave a cry of pain and slid down onto her knees grasping an ankle.

  “I think I’ve twisted it, Jack. I can’t stand.” They both looked around desperately.

  “I’ll carry you then.”

  A Trooper’s gold helmet appeared over the top of the fence above them, two black-gloved hands grabbing its edges. There was no time to left to think.

  “You’re the one they want, not me,” She gasped. “Get away from them!” He reached down for her again, but instead of taking his hand she thrust the Spartacus Bug tablet into it. “Take this. Now go!”

  Suddenly, he found himself running towards the warehouses on the yard’s far side. Beyond, he could just make out the first mist-enshrouded trees of a thick wood rising into darkness. He’d left Portia behind, an automatic reaction to her command, which he instantly regretted even as he began to run. Would he ever forgive himself?

  He was aware of shadowy figures behind; some scrambling over the fence
, others already down and running as their boots cracked on the concrete yard. A throbbing hum announced the arrival of a Trooper gunship. The area directly in front was bathed in an eerie green glow, threaded with red tracer beams. The first dark hanger of the complex was before him, one of the doors slid open so that he could see the woods beyond. If he could just make it inside he’d get some cover from the guns then over the fence again and into the trees beyond. He’d be safe in there, safer anyway. They’d have to stop and climb over, heavy men with bulky weapons, and he’d get further away while they organised a search party through the thick undergrowth. He could hide, double back, climb a tree and wait until dawn. He’d have some options at least. It felt like he was once again running from the Roman soldiers in Fulchestorium only this time there was no treacherous ravine lying in wait for him. But there was something else.

  The giant figure of General Taros stepped out from behind the opened door, black visor up and a pulse-gun in his hands. Jack had just enough time to see the big man smile before he raised it and squeezed the trigger.

  Jack awoke with a start. He was sweating, the dream still crystal clear in his mind.

  He’d been trapped in a strange and frightening world similar yet very different to his own. How he’d got there was uncertain; like all dreams there appeared to be no logic involved. He vaguely remembered being in a pyramid-shaped building, although you couldn’t tell that from the inside, and then a house, old and familiar this time, yet different to what he somehow knew it should have been. There were people in the dream, people who helped him; a girl, although the image of her face swam away from him when he tried to picture it. He’d been running away from something with her. They’d been in a car on a deserted highway at night, neon lights whipping by above their heads. Then they were standing in the middle of a crowd of young people arguing with her while he stood on the edge, observing them. He noticed their eyes were a milky grey. The girl started crying because of something he told her. There was an incredibly loud whooshing noise, then an explosion and another one then he was running with the girl, then on his own, then…