He moves closer. ‘Don’t you recognise me, Travis?’
‘No.’
‘Let’s see if I’m able to jog your memory, then.’
He puts his finger on my forehead! This stranger knows Chase’s hypnosis trick! What’s he going to do, bend me to his will to keep me quiet, stop me from asking more awkward questions? I’m too weak to resist him. A mist develops, and suddenly two faces I know well appear before me, one with a wide grin, and the other with a friendly, encouraging smile. Hudson! Alexander! They’re real! They’re here! I’m in Dr Alexander’s office! I can’t stop myself from calling out to them.
I reach out, trying to touch them, but my hand goes through Hudson’s face, and he disappears. He’s not real after all!
‘You’re using my memories to torment me!’
He presses his finger more firmly on my brow. ‘Look more closely, Travis.’
I’m back in Alexander’s office, and this time I’m staring straight at his photograph on the wall, watching as Alex’s young face moulds almost perfectly onto his older features.
‘No! It can’t be true!’
But it is.
‘I used the Deprovine,’ he explains. ‘I didn’t want Chase to recognise me, and I needed to be young and agile. You’re going to need all the help you can get!’
I grab his hand to see if he’s real. He’s smiling, happy I’m alive. Demi has left us to talk; she’s downstairs preparing the soup.
‘How – how did you...?’ I begin.
‘We were trying to revive you back at the institution,’ he replies, ‘but we couldn’t bring you back, so I decided to try to find you, to see if I could possibly help you come back to us. You’re losing the will to live, Travis. The operation on your brain went ahead just after I sent you away. When you left your body behind Chase told the nuns take you to the operating theatre. I told him epilepsy surgery was dangerous. It hasn’t cured you, anyway. You’re still having fits.’
‘So he went and did it!’ I exclaim angrily. ‘He messed with my brain, left me for dead!’
‘You’re not dead yet, Travis. There’s still a chance we can bring you back, if that’s what you want.’
‘I do want to go back,’ I say desperately, ‘but not to that place. I want to be with my mates, in the gang.’
‘You’d stand a better chance of that if you were back with us.’
‘No, I wouldn’t, because Chase would never let me go. I – I heard you and Hudson calling me,’ I take a deep breath to hide the emotion in my voice, ‘and that made me want to go home, but first I need to deal with Chase!’
‘You do want him dead, then?’
‘He has to die,’ I say firmly, ‘before he kills me!’
Demi is singing downstairs. ‘Does she know?’ I ask.
‘She knows who I am. I told her about twenty ninety-nine, and how I got you here.’
‘She believed you?’
‘Yes. She said you’d told her some of it when you first met, and she didn’t believe you then, but after all she’s seen since she said she was ready to believe in someone called Father Christmas, whoever he is. Will you tell her about the surgery?’
I shrug. ‘If I think she needs to know.’
There’s the sound of feet on the stairs, and Demi runs in.
‘Well,’ she says doubtfully, ‘it’s ready, I haven’t tasted it, but it looks cooked. You might want to close your eyes while you eat it, mind!’
‘You both have yours first,’ I tell them. ‘I can wait a bit.’
While I’m alone I have time to think about the epilepsy surgery. It won’t do any good to shout about it, much as I want to. It’s done now. In fact it’s made me more determined than ever to track down Chase, and make him pay.
Soon Demi comes back with soup for me. It looks like cess water, but it tastes all right, and it warms me up.
‘Well, we’re all still here, so I didn’t poison us,’ says Demi, laughing, as I finish the last spoonful.
‘Are you all right, Travis?’ Alex asks when he returns to the room. ‘I could give you more of that willow bark potion if you’re really uncomfortable. It’ll help you to sleep.’
‘No.’ I pull a face. I don’t want any more of that horrible spew, and I don’t want to be knocked out; I still have questions to ask. ‘I want to talk some more about what’s been happening to me.’
‘Very well.’
‘Chase told me about the portals, and said he came after me because he wanted to kill me before I killed him. I force fed some of the truth drug to him that he used on Demi to get answers, how he followed me, why he followed me, why he was younger, what he’d done to Demi. The fact is, though, I don’t know why I’m supposed to kill him, and he never said. Do you know?’
‘Yes,’ Alex says promptly, ‘you have to kill him to stop him from destroying your life in our world. You’re going to try to stop him from existing. He’s seen his own death at your hands, so he wants to prevent it. That’s why you have to stay here, in nineteen forty-two, because here your paths will cross, except he knows what’s in store. He told you he used the cortexoscope to read your thoughts before he left the institution. You know how those scopes work, but for your benefit, Demi, I’ll explain. They read what’s happening in the subject’s real time, but whoever sees the images can also have a fast forward picture of what’s going on, what your future plans are, before the subject himself knows what they are. The problem is that the images can be patchy, that is, they don’t always show the whole picture. I think this was so in your case, Travis; you were ill, your brain wasn’t working properly.’
I swallow hard. ‘So if he knows I plan to kill him why didn’t he just do away with me when he first found me, on the beach on Barrasay that night, or later when he returned to the island? He had plenty of opportunities. It wasn’t until I dragged him off to the cave that he first tried it.’
Alex sighs. ‘You think Chase is an evil man. You’re right; but give him some credit of feeling, Travis. It isn’t an easy decision to do away with your own son.’
The silence which follows this statement is electric, until Demi blurts out, ‘Chas is Travis’s dad? Nah; ha-ha, you’re having us on!’
Alex looks straight at her. ‘Do I look like I’m joking?’
The colour has drained from her face. My heart is thumping so hard I’m waiting for it to jump out of my chest, and my head is starting to swim.
‘Back in the cave,’ I’m saying, ‘when I killed him – or thought I had – I felt a bit – sad. Do you think I knew?’
‘I don’t know. It’s possible.’
‘How did he know who I was?’
‘He recognised you when you came to the institution. When he had you sedated that time to keep you quiet, he had Sister Augusta take a sample of your blood at the same time, and he compared it with his own. There was no mistake, the nun said, and you know droids can’t lie.’
‘Yet he still operated.’ I’m a mix of emotions – depressed, regretful, angry. ‘He still wanted me dead.’
‘He was also ashamed to have a son born unclean.’
‘He should’ve just smothered my face with a pillow!’
‘He’s probed, like we all are,’ Alex points out. ‘The act will have been detected. You know the penalty for murder, and as important as he is, he wouldn’t be immune from prosecution.’
I exhale slowly, trying to calm myself down. ‘Did he – did he mention my mother?’
Alex hesitates before answering, ‘No.’
‘Do you know where he is now?’
‘I have an idea.’ I open my mouth to speak again, but he puts a hand on my shoulder. ‘No, Travis. We can’t start looking for him until you’re fully fit.’
I lie back, frustrated, but I know he’s right. ‘Explain about the portal, then, and how I managed to escape the guard.’
Alex leans comfortably against the wall and pulls a blanket over himself. ‘You were fitting when we found you.’
‘That
’s what Demi said,’ I’m impatient now, ‘but that doesn’t explain how I was stopped from being crushed to death by that robot. I was trapped under the bike, no way could I have got to that portal.’
‘What usually happens when you have a seizure?’
‘The same thing: the warmness in my head, being unable to focus, passing out, waking up with heavy limbs. It’s only the portals which are strange, and the time shifting. Demi has aged about ten years since I’ve known her.’ Demi isn’t taking any notice. ‘I don’t suppose you know what’s going on with the age thing, Doc?’
He nods slowly. ‘I think you’re shifting through time for a reason. You’re calling up portals, so you can move through them into new time dimensions. You also call them when you’re in a bad situation to get you out of it. That’s how you got away from the guard. There’s a good reason why you haven’t aged; time hasn’t moved on for you, because it’s not supposed to. You’re going to end up back in twenty ninety-nine, back where you started.’
‘That’s crazy!’ I begin, and stop short. Hasn’t my life been crazy up to this point, jumping through portals into different worlds, and now finding out that Professor Chase is my father? ‘How do you know all of this?’
‘I also read your thoughts with the cortexoscope.’
He catches Demi’s eye and smiles. Shivering, she smiles back weakly, and covers herself with a blanket, too. The warmth of the soup is wearing off, and it’s starting to feel chilly in the room. I also think she’s in shock over what she’s just learnt about Chase.
‘Can you tell me what’s going to happen, then?’ I ask Alex.
‘I can only give you a brief picture of what I saw in your head,’ he says. ‘You’ll fall ill with an infection in your neck wound. I’ll treat it with herbs, one of which will keep you sedated. You’ll have a few seizures, you’ll want to leave the house, but the sedation will prevent you from having the energy to let the portals take you. When you come round you’ll accuse me of keeping you here on purpose. You’ll be right, because Chase has to find you in this time dimension. He’ll come to the farm, shoot you with an acid gun, but I’ll intercept that shot. I can’t kill him, because if I do I’ll affect the course of events for you. You both go through a portal, meeting on a beach, but at that point the images start to get a bit hazy.’
When he says no more I prompt him impatiently. ‘Go on.’
‘You want to know how you kill him. Well, sorry, I can’t tell you. Your mind went completely blank at that point. Your heart slowed down, too. I had to get the nuns to help revive you. When you had settled I tried to read some more, but I couldn’t seem to get past the beach part. The thoughts stopped there. I don’t know why. There is one thing. Judging by what I saw, something Chase tells you gives you a bit of a shock.’
Demi yawns widely. My eyes are starting to feel heavy, but I’m not ready to sleep yet. I can’t feel anything right now, it’s like I’m paralysed. Demi finds her voice, asking Alex why I’m able to generate the portals, and what they are.
‘Portals have been around since time began. They’re natural phenomena, but you can only see them when they’re charged by intense electrical currents, like a storm, or...’
‘...the electrical activity in my brain when I have a fit?’ I finish with a sigh.
‘Exactly. I saw a lot of portals when we had the great storms in our time. People were dragged into them. Some were never seen again. Some came back – different, shall we say.’
‘His seizures must be really powerful, then, if he causes the portals to appear,’ says Demi. ‘Lightning electricity is pretty dangerous stuff. It can kill you if it strikes you.’
‘Travis doesn’t know how powerful his seizures are,’ says Alex. ‘Every time you had a fit in the institution, Travis, what do you think would appear? Some of the boys tried to escape through them, until they were stopped by the probes. I thought it was a coincidence at first, but when I triggered your seizure with the ECT machine, one appeared. It was your perfect escape route.’
‘I – I never saw them...’
‘Trust me, Travis, they were there. There’s a good reason why you can see them now. It’s because you need them.’
I snuggle into my blanket. ‘Well, I’m glad Chase didn’t know you helped me.’
‘I told him you started fitting in my office, and that sparks were flashing out of the top of your head. I called the nun who brought you to my office – hiding the ECT machine first – because I wanted her to witness what was happening. The sparks formed a beam of light which eventually morphed into the portal disc. You opened your mouth, and it was like your soul was being sucked through your body; a stream of light was flying through the air, like an apparition of you. Your face was contorted in the light, and you screamed through the energy of what it was pulling you through.’
I’m slurring my words now. ‘Good job droids can’t hear human thoughts through pods, or the nun would’ve told on you.’
‘I saw something else when I read your cortex, Travis,’ adds Alex, ‘and that’s Chase’s vision of what went on in my office as he read your thoughts. I’m afraid he does know I helped you. He’s after me, too.’
I don’t answer. Demi asks if I’m all right. Alex says, ‘He’ll sleep now. The draught I added to the soup will keep him under for hours. It’s what he needs.’
My eyes refuse to stay open, and soon I’m fast asleep.
15. Followed
I’m drifting in and out of consciousness, barely aware that I’m alive. Alex must have me drugged up to the eyeballs to keep me quiet, stopping me from asking any more questions. Demi helps me with my food, and talks to me, but I’m not taking in what she’s saying. Alex comes back to the house now and again, carrying sacks of food, mostly vegetables, but sometimes a small animal for meat, a sheep maybe, or a hare. He takes them outside, skins them, and chops them for the pot. He also brings more rags to use as bandages for my wounds. He tells Demi my neck is healing nicely, and my leg is starting to mend. It itches like crazy. I keep reaching down to scratch it, but both he and Demi slap my hand.
Sometimes at night there are rumblings in the distance. Planes, Demi says; and faint bangs, bombs being dropped on nearby towns and villages. The room shakes, the light swings, dust falls on us. We hear the drone of engines getting louder as the planes fly overhead, until eventually there’s silence. Another raid is over. I hear them talking about the light...shouldn’t have it on, really, those curtains are flimsy...it might be seen...only we can’t leave Travis in the dark...
More bangs, much louder ones, in the house, in the room; that strange accent; yells; the smell of gun smoke. I must be dreaming again.
Soon the dizziness and the confusion fade into normality, and I’m aware of the world making more sense. Demi is sitting in the chair, reading a battered old book. The light is on, and through the crack in the curtain the sky is a sapphire blue with wisps of yellow and red. The sun is setting.
‘Hello, Demi. What’s that?’
She looks up and smiles. ‘An old recipe book,’ she replies. ‘Found it downstairs in the kitchen. It’s all in German, but I understand some of it. You seem a bit better today.’
‘Better? Have I been ill?’
She sighs. ‘You’ve not been with it for days. You’ve been delirious with fever, caused by an infection in your neck wound. It’s healing now, though. You’ve had a couple of fits, too, but not bad ones.’
‘I thought Alex was keeping me drugged.’
‘He’s been giving you herbs to heal the wound, and yeah, he’s kept you sedated,’ Demi admits, ‘but that’s because he wanted you to sleep. Before that you were trying to get up and leave, and with your broken leg, too! Don’t you remember Alex telling you this would happen because he read it in the cortexo-thingy?’
‘Maybe; I can’t be sure.’ My mind is empty. I touch my neck. It’s still bandaged, but it doesn’t hurt very much now. ‘Did a portal appear when I had those fits?’
‘Ye
ah.’
‘And we’re still here.’
Demi shrugs. I’m hot, so I shove my blanket off in frustration.
‘We’ve been here for days!’ I grumble. ‘We could be looking for Chase instead of wasting time here! Aren’t you scared the Nazis will find us?’
‘Alex doesn’t want us to go yet,’ replies Demi shortly. ‘Anyway, you’ve been too ill to be moved. Look, Travis, have a go at him about it, not me! I don’t want to stay here any more than you do, but while you’re ill, we can’t go anywhere.’
I huff irritably. ‘I don’t know why the Nazis haven’t found us yet. This place may be hidden from the road, but someone must have seen Alex coming and going.’
‘Oh, they came, all right. It’s like Alex predicted, Travis.’
‘You’ll have to remind me what he predicted.’
‘Look behind you.’
I look at the wall. It’s peppered with bullet holes.
‘The Nazis came twice,’ says Demi. ‘The first time was just after you went into a fever, a week ago. It was really early in the morning, not light yet. We heard the lorries coming into the yard. I don’t know why they came here; they must’ve been on their way somewhere. Anyway, we watched them fill their water bottles from the pump, and we heard them banging on the door. I was too terrified to move, knowing if they came in they’d see the food we left down there. We had nowhere to hide, and we couldn’t leave you, so we stayed here, and kept quiet. They kicked the kitchen door in, but they didn’t come in. Someone called them away, I think they said something like “Leave it, we have to go now. Orders from the Colonel”, so they left. Alex didn’t try to repair the door in case they came back, and realised someone was here. We’ve put all the stuff we had in the kitchen in the room next door.’ She looks down at her hands. ‘Well, they did come back two nights later, just after we settled down to sleep. Alex reckons they must’ve spotted something in the kitchen when they kicked the door in the first time they came, and were watching the place. When we heard them thundering up the stairs Alex took the light bulb out, and we dragged you across the floor so we could all hide behind the door. The door banged open, and in they came, shining torches, and wielding guns. They opened fire all over the house, not just in here. We were lucky we weren’t shot. We can’t tell you how many there were, not many I don’t think, ‘cos it was over really quick, but one of them – one of them was dressed like an officer. I caught a glimpse of his face, and...’
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