“It’s too late,” said Elle. “If you enter the glowing field it will destroy you and anything it touches.”
The Major took a step back.
Ben saw most of the tarpaulin disintegrate as the craft took off in a vertical ascent. Within seconds, it had disappeared into a tiny dot in the sky. And then a second later, there was the brilliant flash of light that brought the whole sky alight. They all stared at the sky transfixed for almost two minutes. Then he heard a deafening explosion that left his ears ringing.
As Ben’s ears started to recover, the Major came over to them. “What just happened?”
“The craft has gone... Destroyed,” said Elle. “It wasn’t a UFO; it was manmade: an experimental prototype, and it wasn’t fully operational yet. They must have taken the risk. You’ve just witnessed an embolism in the space-time continuum.”
“You mean they’re dead?”
“Uh... Pretty much. There’s probably not a lot left, given that they were crushed by a mini-black hole.”
“Shit. What do I tell the Americans?” said the Major
“I guess they probably know something’s up by now,” said Elle.
The Major put his mobile to his ear, but there was nothing there.
“The electromagnetic shock wave has taken out some of the communication satellites in the area,” said Elle.
The Major looked confused.
“Can we go now? We can’t really help you any further now,” said Elle.
The Major waved them away while he tried to take in what had happened.
As Ben and Elle walked back down the staircase, the Major had recovered and was barking out orders for the clean-up operation. Ben was sure the Major would not leave any trace of evidence that the craft had ever been there. By the morning, some story would be in place to cover up the events of the day.
Ben walked with Elle back down stairs and down the corridor to the room with the white boards. One white board had the original equation they were working on; the other white board had Stuart’s equation. But the boards were left in the position where one board covered the other, and the equation that Ben could see from the door was the old one.
“He must have used the wrong equation,” said Elle.
Ben wasn’t concerned. They were now free at last. Free to do what they wanted without any more interference.
As they left the building, it was a beautiful clear night. The air felt fresh and Ben felt a sense of joy that they were together again. With the craft gone, there was nothing to drag her away. Nothing to drag her back to the future.
“We need to get to the beach and quick,” said Elle.
“Why? The craft’s destroyed — gone. You can’t go back now.”
“But that’s not my craft.”
Ben stopped walking and looked at her.
“There were two?”
“Yes, and mine materialises on the beach at midnight tonight.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Ben and Elle ran across to the sports centre and jumped into Jane’s BMW four-by-four. Ben pulled out of the car park and left by the rear entrance of the university.
In his mirror, he could see a black Saab pull out after him. He looked at his watch — they still had just enough time left to get to the beach.
“What happens if we’re late?” said Ben.
“Twenty minutes and it self-destructs.”
“Plenty of time then?”
“We need the twenty minutes to re-programme the time dilation control. It’s going to be touch and go.”
“Better put my foot down then.”
Ben raced through the centre of town and onto the coastal road, and then down the narrow road that ran along the coastline. Ben saw a track onto the beach, took it, and drove down onto the wet sands of the shoreline. His watch showed 11:55; it was going to be close. He still had about a mile to go.
As he approached the point, he could see a blue glow: the craft was re-emerging from a blue haze, like an image coming into focus. The ship was awesome, standing on four legs it looked like something from a different world. Ben pulled up the four-by-four twenty feet away. Elle raced up to the door and pushed her hand against the security pad. The door opened, and the ramp came down.
“Come on in,” said Elle. “You may as well take a look. You’ll be safer there until I leave.”
Elle led the way up the ramp into the craft and sat down at the controls. Ben came in and looked around the craft. It looked amazing. The outside was visible via a continuous panel that circled the walls of the craft. It was as if the walls were not there. The control dials were holographic images hanging in the air in front of the command console.
“We’ve got to feed in these equations, quickly,” said Elle. “I don’t know how long we will remain unnoticed. Can you check the equations over?”
Ben sat down next to her and watched her, as she moved mathematical symbols around on the holographic screen. Ben checked through the equations on screen against his notes on CAI. His heart was racing now.
“Yes, that’s it I think.”
“Are you sure about this,” said Ben. “Look what happened to Rider and the American woman.”
“I have to try and save my parents. If I hadn’t let them go home early from the beach that day, they wouldn’t have been killed in that car accident. I can change all that now.”
“It was an accident; it was never your fault…”
“But I have to try and save them.”
“If it works, will you come back to see me again?”
“It’s going to be difficult… Perhaps when the fuss dies down.”
“Then I want to come with you.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“Someone has to look out for you.”
“Oh my god. There’s someone coming.”
Ben looked into the monitor and could see a convoy of lights heading down the beach towards them. It looked like they had been discovered. They only had a few minutes before the convoy would be outside.
“And there’s someone standing outside,” said Elle.
“They can’t get in; just launch when you’re ready.”
“I can’t. If they are within twelve feet of the craft, they’ll be killed. I don’t want to be responsible for their death.”
He kissed her. “Don’t worry; I’ll get them away from the craft, somehow. Just keep the door closed until you’re ready for flight. I’ll try and get back.”
He walked over to the door.
“Don’t be long,” she said smiling at him.
“I’ll try not to be,” he said.
He went out of the door and turned to look at her. She smiled at him. He knew he had no time at all to get back. It might be the last time he saw her, but he had to make sure she could get away safely. The door opened and closed behind him.
Ben moved away from the craft to a position well clear of the craft.
A voice came from behind him. “Good evening, Doctor Turner; you have led me to the craft at last.”
Ben turned around and saw a figure dressed in black come out of the shadows: it was Natasha and she was pointing a gun straight at him.
“You’re too late, it’s about to take off,” said Ben, as the door closed and the ramp slid back into the body of the craft.
She ran towards the craft.
“Keep back or you will be vaporised,” he said.
She stopped and turned towards him. “Make her stop.”
“I can’t do that,” said Ben. “And if you don’t move out of the way it will kill you.”
“Make her stop, or I’ll shoot you.”
“Look...” he said pointing down the beach. A convoy of military jeeps were heading towards them and getting closer by the second. “Do you want them to get the craft? Just let her go.”
Natasha hesitated and then lowered the gun and walked towards him.
“All right Englishman, you make sense.”
The convoy was almost on them. It was t
oo late to open the door again and lower the ramp. Ben turned towards the craft and waved. He knew she had to go then, or not at all. The Jeeps would be there in no time at all.
A blue haze engulfed the craft. Ben had a lump in his throat. He remembered what happened to Rider’s craft and dreaded something going wrong. The craft lifted slowly, and then suddenly it accelerated upwards disappearing into the night. She had gone. But this time there was no explosive flash, as in the case of Professor Rider’s flight. It must have been successful, he thought. Ben continued to stare at the sky, not believing she had gone. Then he turned to Natasha, but she had already moved away, melting into the darkness.
The Jeeps arrived; five of them full of soldiers and Ben recognised one of them: the Major. The Major walked over to him.
“So what the hell is going on,” the Major demanded. “Where’s the UFO gone?”
“Back to where it belongs, Major.”
“But...”
Ben ignored him and turned walked towards the BMW. The wind was picking up, and it looked like it might rain; not so different from two weeks ago. But a lot can happen in that time. He climbed in the car and drove off.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Time: year 2030
It’s not much fun being a twelve-year old beanpole and having to wear braces on your teeth, thought young Elle. But at least today she was at her favourite place, the seaside; and on her own. Just like she liked to be. It had started to rain — a fine drizzle — and the beach was almost deserted. She didn’t mind the rain; she had a hooded plastic poncho on that kept her dry. She could just about see her parents, who were sheltering under the awning of a coffee shop close to the beach. They were bored with the weather and wanted to go home, but Elle persuaded them to stay for ten minutes longer.
She was walking along the shoreline, and picking up seashells; at least the ones that she was attracted to. A lone woman jogger ran past her and stopped fifty yards up the beach and picked something up. She turned and ran back to Elle and took her earphones out of her ears.
“Hi,” the woman said, “Do you want this?”
It was a hermit crab shell.
“That’s a good one,” said young Elle, taking the shell. “Thank you.”
“No problem. I used to collect them when I was your age.”
Young Elle could hear the sound coming from the woman’s earphones. “That’s the Beatles, isn’t it?”
“That’s right,” said the woman. “I like classical pop. Do you want to listen?” She offered the earphones to young Elle to use.
Elle fitted them to her ears and started to sing to herself, before she realised what she was being watched. The woman smiled at her. She listened until the end of the track; then offered the earphones back. The woman took them.
“So you like the Beatles too?” said the woman.
“It’s one of my favourite, groups,” said young Elle. “My friends think I’m crazy. But I like the old stuff.”
“Do you like to run?” said the woman.
“Yeah. I’m the school champion in the 200 metres.”
“Then why not jog with me.”
“I should be getting back. My parents want to leave early because of the rain.”
“It won’t take long to jog to the pier and back.”
The young Elle thought about it. “Oh, all right,” young Elle said.
They jogged together to the pier; then jogged back again and stopped.
The woman looked at her watch.
“Is something wrong?” said young Elle.
“Not now.”
“Are you a model?” said the young Elle.
The woman laughed. “Why do you say that?”
“You’re kind of pretty. Not like me.”
“You are pretty,” said the woman. “The braces will go soon, and you’ll start to develop. Believe me I know all about it.”
The young Elle looked at her watch. “Oh sugar, I’m in trouble. I’ve got to get back to my parents now. They’ll kill me.”
“Don’t worry I’ll explain it wasn’t your fault.”
The woman and the young Elle turned and wandered back to the coffee shop, where her parents were waiting.
“We agreed ten minutes; you’ve been gone almost three quarters of an hour,” said her mum. It seemed more like an observation than a scolding.
“I got talking,” said young Elle. “Sorry.”
“It’s all my fault, I’m sorry,” said the woman. “We got talking together, and the time just seemed to fly by.”
“Oh, who are you?”
“Elle … Turner,” she said.
“Oh I suppose there’s no harm done. It’s just the weather has been so atrocious today,” said her mother. “Do I know you? You look so familiar.”
The woman smiled at her mother.
Her father interrupted before she could reply, “Come on, we’ll have to get going or we won’t get back until late.”
“I wouldn’t be in such a rush,” said the woman. “I’ve just seen a traffic warning on my pad. Apparently, there’s been an awful accident on the Toll, and they’ve closed it down. If you’re going back to London, you’ll have to avoid it.”
“Oh dam. We’ll have to use the back roads. It’s going to take ages to get home,” said Elle’s father.
“Better to be safe than sorry. If you had left early you might have been caught up in it,” said the woman.
“Thank you for looking after her,” said her mother.
“No bother. I remember what it was like when I was her age, collecting shells along the seashore. It was so much fun. Have a safe journey home.”
“And you.”
Ten minutes later, young Elle watched from the car as they drove away. The woman she had met was waiving to her, and she returned the wave. She had been so kind to her, and she wondered if she would ever see her again.
Time: year 2046
Elle planned to go back to 2046 at the very same moment she left it, but would change the location to avoid meeting Rider and witnessing her own departure to the past. She decided to land in the grounds of the Cambridge Laboratories. At night, it should give her sufficient cover to disembark.
As her craft remerged into normal space-time, an ominous feeling of fear ran through her body. She knew she had meddled with the timeline, and she had no idea what the consequences might be.
As she walked down the ramp from the craft, she noticed something was missing. The high-tech laboratories simply were not there; it was as if they had never been built. And the old laboratories, which were part of the complex, were little more than burnt out shells of what she remembered. This was not the place she left just moments in time before this.
As she surveyed the scene, the memory of a 2011 television report flooded back into her mind. It was as though she was seeing it again in her mind and listening to the broadcast; it was about the death of Jason Brannan in a car accident and the recent fire at the laboratories in Cambridge. Clearly, the incident had altered the timeline quite dramatically.
Elle felt sick. If this were so, the grown up twelve-year old Elle she had met in 2030 must never have joined IFT and worked here. And if the young Elle had never joined IFT how could she have gone back that night to 2011. And if Elle had not gone back, how was she here now returning from 2011. A paradox.
Elle turned around to see the time craft behind her. But the time craft is here; she is here. How is it possible? She had to find out.
An hour later, she was stood outside the flat she shared with Jenny. She was about to put her key in the lock, but paused to think. If the timeline had been unchanged, Jenny would be at the Ball. But she couldn’t be, because IFT was nothing more than a burnt out shell. Elle had no idea what to expect, but she put her key in the lock and turned it. The door opened.
Standing inside the door was a young man standing there dressed only in his boxers and holding a baseball bat above his head.
“Ahh!” cried Elle stepping backwards.
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“What the …” said the man.
“Stop!” said Jenny who was standing in the entrance to the bedroom door. “It’s Elle, my friend. Leave her alone. What are you doing here, Elle?”
Elle was more than a little confused. “What do you mean? I live here.”
“But you haven’t lived here for over two years. What’s going on?”
Elle didn’t know what to say. The world she knew had been turned upside down.
“I don’t know,” said Elle.
Jenny came over to her and helped her to the settee. “I don’t know,” she said again.
“Zag, can you give us some space?” said Jenny.
The man shrugged his shoulders and disappeared into the bedroom.
“What do you mean I moved out two years ago?” said Elle.
“You know, when you got married,” said Jenny, looking very concerned.
“What! …I’m not mad, Jenny. It might look like it, but I’m not mad.”
“Wait a moment,” said Jenny. She went into the bedroom and said something to Zag before returning. A few minutes later Zag left them alone in the flat together.
“We can talk now,” said Jenny.
“This is going to sound a bit crazy.”
“You always were a bit crazy, girl,” said Jenny, as she walked into the kitchen to return with a bottle of wine.
Elle told Jenny her story from beginning to end of how she travelled back in time and changed the past.
“So that’s how I got here,” said Elle.
“Phew… That really is some story. You’re different to the Elle I know. She didn’t do Physics at university; she did Genetics like her parents. That’s where she met George. And that’s not all; she’s a mother now.”
Elle sat listening open mouthed. Jenny handed her an electronic photo album with a picture of Elle, George and daughter on the screen.
“What about my mum and dad?”
“They’re both fine.”
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