“Including Backhouse smuggling them to the Taiping rebels in China,” Jack added.
“Yes. Backhouse found God just before he entered the asylum and made it his mission to spread the word. When the Taiping rebellion started in China, he found out they were Christians. He wanted to help them. He feels it is his mission.”
“So he starts passing secrets to them, stuff which Babbage and the CPS are working on.” Angus said.
“And the whole future changes,” Christie concluded. What we saw in China in 1860 was when many of these technologies were already taking hold. But what we didn’t see was what came later. The Taiping rebels take over Shanghai and then they defeat the Imperialists and take over the whole of China. Then, China becomes a huge and powerful country in the East and soon the whole world industrialises a hundred years before it has in our timeline. The world is hungry for new energy sources. The pace of development is break neck and it is too difficult to stop environmental melt down. Finally, the climate flips. A new ice age. Where we went, 2046, well, it was the end of civilisation. You saw it for yourselves – a dead planet.”
“But we’ve stopped all that happening, right?” Angus said, slightly nervously.
“Yes, Angus, because it hasn’t started yet. It all starts when Gordon goes back to retrieve the time phone. I’ve now sent the message to VIGIL, and they’ll pick that up and know to do it at another time when it is safe.”
“Will they trust a message from you?” Jack said uneasily.
“They will do their own checks, I am sure. But anyway,” Christie sighed, “my fight with VIGIL is over. It is time for me to come in from the cold.”
Angus scratched his head. “So are you saying, Tom, that if we go back up outside onto that rock now there won’t be all that ice and everything any more?” Angus said.
“You saw it in 2046 – more than forty years in the future – so no, it won’t be like that now, it’ll just be like it was when you first came here. And it won’t be like that in the ‘real’ 2046 either. We followed the trail to the Point of Divergence and we stopped the future changing,” Christie smiled, “Simple, eh?”
Angus looked sceptical.
Christie shrugged, “Well if you don’t believe me, let’s go and see for ourselves.”
A few minutes later they were in the lift travelling up through the rock. It came to a halt and they stepped into the upper access passage.
“Remember this?”
Christie took out his access device and pressed a button. They stepped through into the cellar and Christie pointed upwards. “There are the stairs that take us up to the top.”
They walked up the spiral staircase inside the lighthouse. Jack remembered the last time they had been there – the air had been icy cold; but now it didn’t have the same bite – it was fresh, but nothing like as cold as last time.
“This is it. Remember this door leads onto the lower balcony of the lighthouse – just below the lamp.” He threw it open.
When they had looked out from the lighthouse before it was onto a desolate landscape of ice and rock. The sea that surrounded the island, had been completely frozen as far as the eye could see. Now they looked out onto blue-grey waters that stretched out into the North Sea. There was no ice and no wrecked oil rig. It was a bright summer’s day, the sun beamed from a cloudless sky and Jack had to squint and then shield his eyes. Hundreds of noisy seabirds circled overhead, dipping and diving into the sea. A mile across the Firth Jack saw the coastline and the great bulwark of Tantallon Castle. Everything was as it should be.
Christie turned to them, “Now do you believe me?”
Jack smiled, “It’s good to be back, Dad. It’s, well… it’s beautiful.”
“And no ice age,” Angus added.
“Well, no, but in a way – what we saw in 2046 was a warning. In our history, the planet is still warming – because of the way we live. The climate might still flip – just as we saw it – but hopefully we have a little more time to change our ways, or fix things before it’s too late.” Christie paused. “Tell you what – how about we climb up to the top of the rock? The highest cliffs are on the other side from here – they’re incredible.”
It was a hard climb up the hill path from the lighthouse to the top of the rock. The island rose up from the sea with sheer black cliffs on all sides – except where the old prison and lighthouse stood. Above them, gannets swooped and dived and hundreds more nested noisily all around. There were so many of them they made the rock look white. They crested the ridge at the top of the climb and then the land suddenly dropped away, precipitously. They could hear the distant roar of the grey ocean as it churned away at the foot of the cliffs far below.
“Whoa!” Angus said. “What a view.”
The three of them stood silently gazing out to sea. The breeze ruffled Jack’s hair and he felt the sun warm his skin. For the first time in a long while he felt happy. There was a sense that it was over. Before their mad trip to China, Jack had believed that his father had decided that meddling in the past to try and rectify humanity’s grievous mistakes so that the future might be better was an unrealisable dream. It was a dream that threatened his own family. The risks he and the Revisionists were running had become all too evident through the latest escapade – even though, ironically, changes had happened because of a VIGIL mistake.
Jack’s eyes alighted on the far horizon where the dark blue of the sea merged with the sky. In reality, he knew that the horizon was only a few miles away, but it felt like he was gazing into something limitless – a bit like the future itself.
“So Tom, you’re saying, well, everything is back as it was… that all that stuff we saw – in Shanghai and in China… and which lead to the climate meltdown… that’s just… gone?” Angus shook his head in wonder.
“Yes, Angus.”
“And all the people we met… they’re gone too… dead?”
Christie shrugged. “Well, in a way, they never existed in the first place. They were never born… so it was impossible for them to die. But remember that in many ways the alternative past that we saw was very similar to the real one. Events, people… in some ways similar, so who knows… maybe some of them existed in China’s real past…”
Jack thought about what his father said and he felt a stab of sadness. The people they had met – Shu-fei, Yi, Lai, Captain Fleming – had all been passionately involved in their own lives and the trials of their own times. It was strange to think that the versions of these characters they had met had just been snuffed out, together with their entire world. These people had become friends, and now they were gone.
“How nice… the three amigos all together.”
The voice from behind took them by complete surprise. Jack swivelled round and his jaw dropped.
It was Fenton Pendelshape.
He was standing only a few metres away and he had a semiautomatic pistol in his hand. It was pointing straight at Jack.
“Had you forgotten about me then?” he sneered. “You forgot to finish the job… So here I am, and this time you really are going to die. All of you. You have a choice – I can shoot you or…” he stood on his toes to get a better view of the swirling sea below and gave a little shrug, “you can just jump.”
“It’s over Fenton,” Christie said.
“Over? You fool. It’s only just begun,” Fenton sneered. “Once I have finished with you and taken revenge for my father’s life, I will destroy VIGIL once and for all. Then I will be the only one left. I will bring my father back and together we will be omnipotent. We will recreate the world exactly how we wish it to be. We have the power to go to the past or to go to the future. Unlimited power. I will be like a god…” He took a step forward and waved the gun, “So, who wants to be first to die?”
Jack felt that sick feeling of fear sweeping up from his stomach. It was a feeling he had experienced all too often. Fenton waved the gun again and his voice became angrier.
“Come on then, I haven’t
got all day…”
Something inside Jack just snapped. They had not survived everything just for their lives to be taken by this madman. Jack’s fear evaporated and it was replaced by something else. Rage. He darted towards Fenton, screaming at the top of his voice. He saw the look of surprise in Fenton’s eyes. But although Jack’s move was unexpected and brave, it was suicidal. Fenton’s gun jerked in his hand and instantly Jack felt something rip into his shoulder. It was like he had been hit by a car… the pain was excruciating and it knocked him to the ground. He stared up into the sky and felt his life draining away from him. Fenton loomed over him and pointed his gun at Jack’s head as he prepared to finish the job.
But Jack would not be the first to die. For at that moment there was a muffled crack. It was the sound of a gunshot, but it hadn’t come from Fenton’s weapon. Jack looked up to the find the source of the sound, high up on the rock with the wind swirling around. Fenton reeled and put his hand to his chest. A growing dark patch indicated the location of an exit wound from a nine millimetre round. He dropped his gun and looked at the blood on his hand. After three more steps forward he veered uneasily beyond where Jack lay. His face was etched with anguish, confusion and pain but Fenton staggered on and, in seconds, he was falling from the edge of the cliff and into the hungry ocean below.
A new figure stood where Fenton had been moments before. It was a woman. She also held a gun, and a grey wisp of smoke licked up from the barrel.
The woman spoke, Jack recognised her voice… and then he lost consciousness.
*
He was lying on a bed and there was a dull ache in his shoulder. He tried to focus on the faces in front of him but we felt drowsy. There was Angus, his Dad, and…
“Mum?” Jack croaked.
“How are you feeling, Jack?”
“But?”
“You were lucky,” his dad said. “We’ve patched you up – you should be fine – but we need to get you to a hospital as soon as we can…”
“Yeah, you’ve been shot, mate.” Angus said in admiration.
Jack tried to pull himself up but he felt a stab of pain run from his neck down his arm.
“Steady…”
“But Mum, how?”
“You didn’t think I would trust you boys to stay out of trouble, did you?” She smiled, “Give me a break…”
“You knew we were here…?”
“I followed you here, Jack. You might not know it, but I keep more of an eye on you than you might think. It’s a VIGIL thing…” she shrugged and looked at her husband. “OK I admit it, it’s a mum thing too.”
“The game,” Christie said.
“Point of Departure – Day of Rebellion…” Carole smiled,” Your Dad and I wrote most of the algorithms it uses when we were doing our research at CERN. Right couple of nerds we were. Anyway… as you know it developed into something a bit more complicated. It was the start of all our troubles really. But later on when the program we wrote was built into a huge, bestselling game, well, sometimes I hacked in – you know – just to see how it was going. It’s proved useful. When you left the house this morning in a bit of a hurry, well, I suppose I got a bit nosy. I went down to the cellar and I didn’t need to hack in at all. There was a rather interesting message from, who else, but my good husband just staring back at me from the screen. I couldn’t let that go, so I followed you. Lo and behold – I make an interesting discovery. The Revisionist base, no less,” Carole Christie smiled. “And Jack how many times have I told you to shut the door behind you?” She looked at Christie. “I’ve got to tell you Tom – you need to sort out your security here… I just walked in. I’m amazed VIGIL didn’t suss this place before.”
Tom smiled and put an arm around his wife’s shoulders, “She’s a bit of a show-off sometimes…”
Jack closed his eyes and sank back onto the bed. Despite the pain, he felt happy.
“Don’t go to sleep, Jack, you need to get up. We have to leave the base now. We’ve been talking…”
“Yeah, and we’ve made a decision…” Angus said.
Jack opened his eyes again.
“We’ve decided it’s over.”
“What do you mean?” Jack said, his voice weak.
Christie smiled, “Mum’s right. Meddling in the past is too dangerous. It’s nearly got us all killed… nearly got you killed, Jack. I’m sorry for what I’ve put you guys through. I’m going to make it up with the VIGIL team…” he pointed at his backpack on the floor, “But I’ve got the backup here for our version of the Timeline Simulator. I reckon we can use the models to predict what happens in the future. Maybe we can use that to help influence what we do today to make the future a better place… for all of us. We have enough here to do some good… maybe lobby governments… and it will have to be enough.”
“But no time travel, right?” Carole said.
Christie gave a little shrug, “No, our time-travel days are over…” he smiled, “Promise.”
Jack heard the words and he felt relieved. But there was a tinge of sadness at the same time – that their adventures of the last few months were over. Their mission now would be to keep the reality of the Taurus and time travel a secret.
“So what about this place?”
Jack’s mum and dad looked at each other knowingly, “Well – it’s going to have to go…”
*
Jack stood in front of the great blast screen of the Revisionist Taurus for the last time. The mighty machine loomed up in front of him and he felt mixed emotions. He could hear the familiar whine of the generators building and the vibrations rising through the floor.
Christie pressed him, “Come on Jack… we need to go now… it’s going to go off in under ten minutes. You don’t want to be here for that, I can tell you.”
But Jack was rooted the spot, mesmerised by the hulking machine as it readied itself – not to send time travellers to the future or the past this time – but to use its own awesome power to rip itself apart.
Christie dragged him away. “Let’s go. The energy limiters are off. When it blows the whole complex will be destroyed. There will be nothing left except a few holes deep inside the rock… We need to get down to the sea tunnel where we’ll be safe.”
Jack was still woozy and his shoulder still hurt, but he allowed his father to pull him away and they headed back through the complex and out to the lift where Angus and Carole waited anxiously.
“What have you guys being doing?” Carole demanded.
“Relax…” Christie said, closing the lift door, “We were just having a final look…”
Carole rolled her eyes.
Christie pressed the button on the elevator for the undersea access level which would take them to the tunnel and back out to Tantallon. The elevator set off and started to rattle its way down through the lift shaft. They could still hear the generators which were getting louder and louder – even the metal lift cage was starting to shake.
“Things are hotting up… we got out of there in the nick of time,” Christie said.
But no sooner had the words come out of Christie’s mouth than the whole lift suddenly shuddered to a halt. Christie frantically pushed the control buttons and then in frustration gave the side of the lift cage a hefty kick.
“What’s happened, Tom?” Jack could hear the panic in his mother’s voice.
Way above, Jack heard the generators shrieking now. In seconds they would explode. Jack knew that the explosion would rip through the entire complex and envelop the lift shaft. They would be vaporised.
“There’s only one option,” Christie said.
Jack could sense his father fumbling in the darkness and suddenly a speck of yellow light glinted from his palm.
“A time phone?”
“A souvenir… I took a souvenir…” Christie said sheepishly. “But look, it’s got a time signal… And I think it’s our only chance…” There was a pause before he added, “We can go to the past or we can go to the future… anyw
here you like.” Despite the danger, Christie’s voice sounded strangely excited.
“Tom…” Carole said, her voice concerned. “What are you talking about? Just get us out of here before the whole place goes up…”
“But…” for a moment it seemed that Christie was going to change his mind.
The pain in Jack’s shoulder throbbed and he scarcely had the energy to stand, he felt he was about to lose consciousness again, but he had the energy to say one final thing.
“Home, Dad. Not to the past or to the future. We just want to go home, please, Dad.”
In the gloom Jack saw Christie set the time phone.
Suddenly, the air pressure changed. Jack felt as if his chest was going to burst and then there was an ear-splitting explosion. For a moment, the whole lift shaft was bathed in white light. Jack felt the heat on his face and then… darkness.
All in the Past
Jack was lying in a field. He blinked. It was a fine summer’s day – perhaps late afternoon. He stared up into a pristine blue sky. Rolling onto his side there was a stab of pain in his shoulder. He winced. Not far away in the distance he could see a white house. It was Cairnfield. They were home. As he came to his senses, Jack noticed that Angus was nearby, pulling himself to his feet. Jack’s mother and father were walking towards them.
“That was a close-run thing… not quite accurate, but it could have been a lot worse,” His father said.
Carole harangued her husband, “Idiot! I can’t believe you nearly changed your mind…”
“Just keeping you on your toes…”
“We’re home then?” Jack asked.
“Yes – we’re home.”
“And not in some time warp, or alternative history with cleaver-wielding nutters or a future where the world’s dead… I mean, we’re in the present…?” Angus said.
Day of Rebellion Page 17