A little while later, after Mrs Fellows had finished her security checks, and had gone over what she called the ‘house rules’, Austin was taken over to his desk by Zoë.
‘This is my desk,’ she said, pointing to the desk adjacent to his. ‘We’ll be working together for the first few days, just until you get the hang of the software and procedures.’
‘It won’t take me that long,’ said Austin. Zoë looked disappointed at this remark, so Austin quickly added, ‘I mean, I think you’ll be a really good teacher, so I’m sure I’m in good hands.’
Zoë looked at him and raised her eyebrows. Austin shrugged, then grinned. Zoë just shook her head and laughed. ‘Put down the shovel and step away from the hole,’ she said.
I’m going to enjoy working here, he thought, and sat down at the computer. Zoë brought her chair over and sat next to him. ‘What first, teacher?’ he said.
‘Hand on the scanner,’ she said, ‘and the computer will log you on.’
Austin did as he was told, and the screen in front of him came to life. A photo of him appeared, together with his username, which he was not in the least bit surprised to find out was Austin13.
‘If you’re wondering,’ said Zoë, ‘it’s your name and workstation number.’
‘I sort-of guessed that!’ he said. ‘So show me how this thing works.’
Zoë showed him the basics of the system, which was not one Austin had ever used before. ‘It’s an operating system designed especially for the Bureau’s use,’ said Zoë. ‘It can interact with any other operating system, but it cannot be hacked.’
This is seriously impressive stuff, thought Austin, as Zoë showed him the software he would be using. It was a database of all known time hole locations, and the details of everybody involved with them. ‘If they’ve seen one, been through one, or even come into contact with people who’ve been affected by one, then they’re here,’ she said. ‘You and I will be working on one area of the country. We may have to visit witnesses and collate data when necessary.’
‘So what’s this all for?’ he asked.
‘As far as I know, it’s just to monitor the situation, but it’s been getting steadily worse over the past year. There are reports almost monthly now. They used to be every couple of months.’
‘And how did you come to work here?’
‘I’m what Mr Pilgrim calls a Time Orphan,’ she said. ‘After I saw my parents disappear into a time hole, Mr Pilgrim adopted me.’
Oh great, thought Austin. I finally meet a girl I like, and she turns out to be Mr Pilgrim's daughter. Typical! ‘Didn’t you have any other family?’
‘No. Only my mum and dad, and they’ve not returned yet.’
‘I’m sorry,’ said Austin. ‘When and where was it?’
‘I’ll show you,’ she replied, and tapped a few keys on Austin’s virtual keyboard. The database came up with her details, and those of her parents. She then tapped the screen twice, and the window changed to a fully realised computer simulation of the location and incident. It was annotated by other pertinent data, even down to the exact co-ordinates of the time hole.
‘Things have progressed since my incident,’ he said. ‘Mr Pilgrim didn’t have all this back then.’
‘I was one of the first people to benefit from this new system,’ said Zoë. ‘They were at the scene within an hour. Mr Pilgrim himself came. I was a bit scared of him at first, but now I’m working here, I can make sense of it all. Why don’t you look yourself up?’
Austin’s heart thumped. This is it, he thought. Perhaps now I can find out where Jordan’s dad is? He entered his name and tapped the screen. A simple message came up which read; Primary Incident: Data Encrypted. Insufficient Security Clearance.
‘Oh!’ said Zoë. Austin thought she looked genuinely surprised. ‘I’ve never seen that before.’
‘Primary Incident?’ he said. ‘What do they mean, Primary incident?’
‘It means you were the first one, Austin,’ came a voice from behind them.
Austin knew the voice immediately.
‘Hello Mr Pilgrim,’ he said, without turning round. ‘How nice to see you again.’
‘I see you’ve met my daughter,’ said Mr Pilgrim, as Austin rose from his chair to greet him. He held out his hand, and Mr Pilgrim shook it warmly. Zoë gave her adopted father a hug. ‘I wondered how long it would take you to look up your own details.’
‘Why isn’t he allowed to see it, Dad?’ asked Zoë.
‘It contains some sensitive data which we recovered from the site,’ said Mr Pilgrim. ‘Nobody who works in this office is allowed to see it, so don’t think it’s because I don’t trust you, Austin. It’s purely because your user area has the same security clearance as every other employee here.’
‘No problem, Sir,’ said Austin. ‘It’s not as if I don’t know what happened!’
‘Indeed,’ said Mr Pilgrim. ‘Now, Zoë dear, you just make sure you take care of my protégé. He’s going to be of invaluable importance to us in the coming years.’
‘It’s okay, Dad,’ said Zoë, ‘I won’t let him out of my sight.’
‘Good, good,’ said Mr Pilgrim. ‘Now I’ll let you young things get on with it. Glad to see you’re getting settled in, Austin. See you soon, Zoë, my dear.’
Austin waited until Mr Pilgrim had disappeared into Mrs Fellow’s office to speak to Zoë again. ‘You don’t live with him, do you?’ he asked.
‘No,’ said Zoë, ‘he’s my Dad in name only. I only call him ‘Dad’ to keep him happy.’
‘I was going to say, your parents could turn up at any time. I don’t think they’d be best pleased.’
Zoë sat down on her desk chair and let out a long sigh. She looked away so Austin wouldn’t see her crying, but it was easy to guess. ‘I’m sorry, Zoë, I didn’t mean to be so insensitive.’
‘It’s okay,’ she said, ‘I’m alright. Really. Truth is, I’m scared of him.’
‘Me, too.’
As Zoë turned back to Austin, wiping a tear from her eye, his heart went out to her. There’s something incredible about you, he thought. ‘You and I,’ he said, taking her hand in his, ‘are two of a kind. We have to stick together.’
Zoë smiled, then laughed. ‘I’d like that,’ she said.
Quantum Acts of Violence
Dreamstate
With all the memories becoming part of him, Jordan began to lose his sense of self. He started to understand the true nature of the hive, for that is where he was, he knew it now. He could no longer see Austin, or anyone for that matter. He began to forget his true existence, to become part of the vast ocean of thoughts and minds that was the hive-consciousness.
Instead of his thoughts, there were now only hive-thoughts. Instead of his memories, there were now only hive-memories. As his ego started to dissipate, he absorbed the strongest thoughts and ideas that were common to the majority of minds connected to the hive. He realised in an instant that he had known these facts all along, without consciously realising it. He knew then, too, that these thoughts were common not just to the hive-consciousness, but to the whole world.
He saw Austin enter the time hole for the first time. He was able to see the changes that it made to Austin’s DNA, to every fibre of his being. Those changes were made as an inevitable consequence of Austin being in a certain place at a certain time. The time hole didn’t exist before Austin’s arrival, and it didn’t exist afterwards, either. It couldn’t exist in another place, or for another person. Austin and the time hole were one.
So where did that leave him? What about Jordan? There were no other cases of two people sharing the same time hole. Not even twins. He saw his own journey through the time hole: How Austin had been hiding, terrified, in the toilet next to the kitchen doorway. How the time hole had activated, sensing his presence, so close. How Austin had wanted Jordan to disappear at the instance he went through the doorway. How this would never have happened at any other point in spacetime. For nobody had gone through
a time hole more than once, except for Austin and Jordan. And a time hole, once opened more than once, became more solid, more a part of spacetime.
He saw Dad and Austin at the time hole. He saw Austin run through, and the black-suited man’s hand go through with him. Another instance of split-second timing, which strengthened the time hole all the more. These time holes were quantum acts of violence, he knew this now. Random, like quarks in a hadron. It also made Austin go forwards in time instead of backwards. 13 hours forward. So it can be done.
He saw the first atomic explosion, and how this had created a tiny fracture in the fabric of reality. Every subsequent explosion had strengthened this fracture. Then he sensed he had become infinitesimally small. He was part of the quantum matter that existed inside the precursor to the hadron collider, the electron-positron collider. He was moving so fast he felt as if he was everywhere at once. He was both matter and anti-matter, quark and anti-quark. And then, in the nano-second that it took for the collision to happen, he and Austin were born. It wasn’t just the 13 day, it was the 13 hour, the 13 minute, the 13 second, the 13 millisecond and so on. He and Austin were born at the instant the fracture became a crack. Their genesis was one.
But the experiments didn’t stop there; they culminated in the hadron collider, and then the hive. They had activated a time switch in every living thing, making life itself a ticking time-bomb. But this time-bomb wouldn’t trigger one explosion. It would set off a chain reaction throughout reality, like a cluster bomb with many unexploded shells.
Then he saw the simple solution; the random throw of the dice that gave reality its get-out clause. ‘Written’ into the first time hole was a unique parameter that governed its existence; two people went through it instead of one. Austin went into the past, Jordan went into the future. If these two people were to pass through at the same time, they would cancel each other out, creating an alternate time-line in which time holes never existed. It would be like returning to the scene of a bomb explosion, at the point of detonation, and stopping the timer at 00:01.
Finally, before he was lost to the hive-consciousness, he saw that the reason for its existence was not to save the world at all. Behind all the planning and building of the hive, stretching out across time to the point of origin, was the insidious plan of Mr Pilgrim and his Department of Missing Persons. Behind the entire project was a desire for absolute power. The power to wield time as a weapon. All the effort to persuade him to volunteer for this experiment, on the pretext of saving the world, was merely a ruse. He had to volunteer, or the experiment would never have worked. It needed a receptive mind. Austin, Zoë, Ron; they were all unwittingly part of Mr Pilgrim's plan - To harvest the power from each time traveller’s DNA to create the ultimate time machine.
He saw what he had seen before he had fallen asleep. The platform moving across the dome to the column, and Mr Pilgrim stepping off it into another cocoon that was placed at the epicentre of the hive itself. A secret chamber built purely for him. Jordan saw him become connected to the hive consciousness, too, and understood he was absorbing all the raw energy from the time travellers he’d spent years tracking down. Then, abruptly, he was no longer present. Mr Pilgrim was part of the hive one second, and then gone the next.
With that kind of power, Mr Pilgrim would become a time traveller himself. If he was let loose in time, he could re-write history any way he wanted. He had to be stopped. He and Austin had to escape. The hive-consciousness knew that. But it was too late. He had become part of it. He couldn’t possibly wake up, now that he was a component of the great machine. But he must.
He and Austin were the last hope.
J-Day
Friday 3rd November 2023
The day had started brightly. There was a fresh wind and a hint of sunshine as Austin and Zoë made their way towards No. 13 Oak Road in their car. Neither of them felt much like talking. This was J-Day. It was a moment that Austin had been counting down to for a very long time. 13 years, in fact. At first it had been a struggle to keep going, but then he had met Zoë, and everything had changed for him. She had been the adopted daughter of his sworn enemy, Mr Pilgrim, but not even he could stop them from falling in love.
He glanced at her in the passenger seat and smiled. His obsession with Jordan’s reappearance would have sent anybody else running, but not Zoë. She told him that she admired his sense of duty, his strength of character to continue to believe what had happened, even when the rest of the world had denied it. It helped that she worked for the Department of course, and her relationship with her adopted father had kept them close to the inner sanctum. If Mr Pilgrim suspected Austin of being anything less than loyal to him, and his grand cause, he hadn’t let it slip. Austin had made an excellent job of being the diligent employee, and had risen to section chief in less than three years.
‘Are you okay?’ said Zoë. ‘Do you want me to drive?’
‘No, I’m fine,’ he answered. ‘We’re nearly there, anyway.’
‘Do you really think he’ll appear?’ she asked.
‘He has to. If 13 years isn’t right, then he might as well be lost forever. ’
‘He’ll be there,’ she said. ‘I’ve got a feeling about it.’
‘You and your feelings,’ said Austin.
Zoë looked quizzically at him. ‘What about my feelings, Mr Logical?’ she said. ‘How many times have my feelings turned out to be right?’
‘Almost always,’ admitted Austin, with a wry grin.
‘There you go,’ she said. ‘So, are you okay with Dad’s orders?’
Austin hated it when she called Mr Pilgrim ‘Dad’, but he never said anything. With a sigh, he said, ‘I suppose so.’
‘It’s the best way to manage this rendezvous,’ she said. ‘This one is a little different than all the others. It’s the only time we’ve been able to predict the time of return. This time we get to intervene at the best possible moment, and have someone Jordan knows there ready. We’re the envy of the Department, you know. Everyone wanted to be in on this one, but we got the part.’
A few minutes later, they pulled up at the side of Oak Road, within walking distance of Number 13. Austin turned the engine off, and unbuckled his seat belt, as did Zoë. He sighed, and drummed his fingers on the dashboard, nervously.
‘It’ll be fine,’ said Zoë. ‘You’ll see.’
Austin opened the driver’s door and stepped out into the road. He looked around him at the familiar surroundings and remembered the first time he’d cycled down this road, that hot summer’s day, 13 years ago. He recalled the ride perfectly, and he also remembered his first encounter with Jordan. It all seemed so silly now, but it was the first in a long line of dominoes to fall that had led to this moment.
Austin’s mobile rang, and he quickly answered it.
‘Yes, Sir?’ he said, ‘what is it?’
Zoë mouthed ‘is it dad?’ at him, to which he nodded.
‘Change of orders, Austin,’ said Mr Pilgrim. ‘You are not to take Jordan to his Dad. It seems there may be a chance that sending him back through the time hole will seal it forever, and thus stop the chain reaction.’
‘Since when?’ said Austin. ‘And who says? Is this another of Mr Jones’s theories?’
‘Just carry out your orders, Austin. With any luck, in a few minutes or so, this whole nightmare will be over, and we’ll have succeeded in stopping the biggest threat to our existence.’
‘But where will Jordan go? Back to 2010? Or forward to 2036?’
‘We just don’t know, Austin,’ said Mr Pilgrim, ‘but we have to try. The worst that could happen is that he goes forwards, and we have to do the whole thing all over again in 13 years time. The best thing that could happen is that he returns to 2010, and everybody dismisses his wild story about travelling in time as a feeble excuse for being late for school.’
‘But he didn’t return!’ said Austin. ‘I know! If he had, I wouldn’t be here now! I would never have met Zoë, I would never
have worked for the Department. None of the last 13 years would have happened.’
‘I know,’ said Mr Pilgrim, ‘but that’s the risk we have to take. Mr Jones says that it may not happen anyway, because that would create a time paradox. He also said that it could create -’
‘- An alternate reality. Yes, I know,’ said Austin. ‘We’ve been through all this countless times. There’s also the Chronology Protection Conjecture, and the Novikov self-consistency principle. The problem with all this, Sir, is that it’s all theory, isn’t it? And theory is no good to us on the ground here.’
‘Do I need to send someone else in?’ said Mr Pilgrim. ‘It might be that I’ve made a mistake in putting you there.’
‘No, I’m fine, Sir. Sorry. If you think it’s worth a try, we’ll do it. It’s as good as any other idea we’ve got, and perhaps a bit better. After all, I’m sure Ron Baxter would like to grab back the last 13 years, and have it filled with his son, instead of emptiness.’
‘That’s the ticket, son,’ said Mr Pilgrim. ‘Go to it, and say “hi” to Zoë from me.’
‘Will do,’ said Austin, and rang off. ‘Did you catch any of that?’ he asked Zoë.
‘I got the gist,’ she replied. They started to walk towards Number 13. Austin could feel the familiar tug of the house, as if it were pulling his insides towards it. It’s stronger than ever, he thought. I hope we’re doing the right thing. He suddenly stopped, and bent over double, as a spasm of pain went through his stomach, and he felt dizzy.
‘Are you okay, Austin?’ said Zoë, putting an arm on his shoulder.
‘It’s happened,’ he said, standing back upright. ‘Jordan’s come through! Come on!’ He started to run towards the house.
‘How do you know?’ said Zoë, as she started to run after him. ‘What’s going on, Austin?’
‘Trust me, I know,’ he said. He ran up to the house, and then stopped at the bottom of the grass verge. He looked at Number 13; it hadn’t aged well, even though for a house it wasn’t that old. Guess that’s what comes of having a time hole in your kitchen, thought Austin. Entropy leaks. Suddenly, Austin was at a loss as to what he should do. All the training that the Department had given him, all the experiences he’d had over the past 13 years; all of it seemed to be useless now. None of it had prepared him for this moment. Nothing could, he thought.
‘Austin?’ said Zoë, touching his left arm gently.
He turned to her. ‘Yes?’ he said.
‘We’ve got company,’ she said, pointing to his right.
Austin turned his head and saw an old lady approaching them. She was walking her dog. Austin had a flashback to the first time he’d been outside the old Number 13. He’d met an old lady walking her dog then, too.
‘It’s haunted, you know,’ she said.
‘Is it now?’ said Austin, feigning surprise, but experiencing a strong sense of deja-vu. The dog barked. Austin smiled at the old lady.
‘Nobody’s lived there more than a few weeks,’ she added, ‘Folks just couldn’t stay.’
‘Who is it haunted by?’ said Zoë.
‘A boy,’ said the old lady. ‘I was walking Chipper one night, when I heard a voice coming from inside. I thought it was odd, ‘cos it was empty, like now.’
‘Did you see it?’ said Austin.
‘No, dear, I only heard it. It called out a boy’s name. Over and over again, like it was looking for him.’
‘What name?’
‘Come on, Austin, she can’t remember,’ said Zoë.
‘That’s it! That’s the name!’ said the old lady, as she started to walk on. ‘It was calling out Austin! Isn’t that odd?’
They watched the old lady walk off, muttering something about ghosts under her breath, then Austin felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristle, as if someone was watching him. He turned and walked towards the front window, and glimpsed a face ducking out of sight, just for a fraction of a second. This is it, he thought. Please let it be Jordan.
Austin waited for a few seconds, but nobody appeared at the window. He turned to look at Zoë, who was beckoning for him to come towards her. She mouthed ‘Come here! He’s hiding. Let him think you’re going and he might come back out!’ She beckoned again, and Austin started to walk towards her, then stopped still. The look on Zoë’s face almost stopped his heart. What if it’s some other kid, he thought, and not Jordan at all? He willed himself to turn. Slowly, surely, he faced the window again, and saw a boy’s face, with a red mop of hair and freckles.
He tried to speak, but could only mouth the boy’s name. They both stayed transfixed at each other, neither one able to turn away. Austin breathed a sigh of relief, then summoned his voice.
‘Jordan?’ he said.
Escape from the Hive
Thursday 13 November 2036
When Jordan opened his eyes, everything was dark. Sensation came back to him moments later, and he ached all over. He tried to move, but his arms felt like lead weights, and when he managed to move his right hand, it bumped against a soft, cushioned wall. Slowly, the darkness started to lift. He began to make out the silhouette of a man gazing down at him, and suddenly felt scared. His arms started to throb, and his stomach felt more empty than it had ever felt before. Then, as the face outside began to take on features, he thought he recognised it. With clarity, came sound, and Jordan could make out voices, and alarms going off. Then, the lid of the cocoon hissed, and started to lift away from him. The full blast of sound and light overwhelmed him suddenly. He tried to move, but found that he was too weak.
Then, he was lifted from the cocoon by a strong pair of hands. He looked up at the face of his rescuer, and saw that it was Mildew, the soldier who had been kind to him at the farmhouse. Before he could ask him what was going on, Jordan was tossed over his shoulder.
‘Take him down to the next level,’ he heard a voice yell, trying to be heard above the insistent alarms ringing out. ‘Then follow the evacuation procedure.’
The soldier moved off, and Jordan was jogged up and down as the man ran. He tried to lift his head, but it was useless. He was still too weak from the time he’d spent in the cocoon. How long have I been in there, he wondered, days? Weeks? Months? He tried to discern where he was going, but there was too much confusion. Then he caught a glimpse of Austin being helped along by two other soldiers, an arm around each of their necks, whilst they part dragged him across the floor.
He tried to call out to him, but found that his throat was too dry to speak. Then he felt Austin’s thoughts in his head. It’s okay, Jordan. We’re being rescued. We’re going to get out of here!
I can hear your thoughts, answered Jordan. But before Austin could reply, there was an explosion nearby and both Mildew and Jordan were thrown backwards onto the floor.
‘Are you okay?’ said Mildew, looking anxiously at Jordan, as he lay on the floor, still too weak to move. Jordan nodded. ‘We’re trying to evacuate the building; take all of you out, before everything goes sky high,’ he said.
‘Pilgrim,’ croaked Jordan, ‘inside.. column…’
‘What?’ said Mildew. ‘Mr Pilgrim left just after you arrived.’
‘No, no,’ began Jordan, but any further words were abruptly cut off by a long, throaty cough.
‘Don’t talk,’ said Mildew, ‘let’s just concentrate on getting you out of here.’
Another small explosion happened nearby. Jordan was again tossed over Mildew’s shoulder, and the soldier moved off. What’s going on, thought Jordan, and why can’t I move?
We’ve been unconscious for days, came Austin’s voice again. Our muscles aren’t used to moving.
Austin, thought Jordan, I saw Mr Pilgrim just before I went to sleep…
I know, came the reply, I saw what you saw, remember? In our dreamstate. But I think he’s gone now.
So what do we do?
We find your dad, and Zoë and Aurie, and we get back to the time hole.
Jordan tried moving his arms, which were
flapping about uselessly, banging against Mildew’s legs as he dodged and swerved around various obstacles in his way. He could feel sensation coming back at last, as he had dreadful pins and needles. Then, he craned his neck upwards a little, so he could see where they had come from, and saw destruction wherever he looked. There were other soldiers carrying bodies from the cocoons, and yet more bodies lying on the ground. The central column of the hive had black smoke billowing out from it, and Jordan couldn’t see anything above halfway. Then he caught a glimpse of a woman running between hiding places, carrying a small child. Zoë! I can see Zoë! She’s got Aurie!
Where is she?
She’s just behind us, Austin. She’s coming.
Mildew stopped running and lifted Jordan from his shoulders, putting him gently onto the ground. ‘Are you recovered enough to move by yourself yet?’ he asked.
Jordan shrugged his shoulders. ‘Dunno,’ he croaked, ‘I’ll try to stand.’
Slowly, awkwardly, and with his limbs aching, Jordan rose to his feet. He looked behind him, and saw that Austin, too, was standing. The two soldiers who had carried him along were heading back towards the column to rescue more people from the remaining cocoons. Austin stood next to a large metallic canopy, which stretched over a set of escalators, neither of which were working. Jordan was about to speak to him, when Austin cried out, ‘Zoë! Over here!’
Jordan looked back towards the column, and saw one of the two soldiers helping Zoë towards them. She still carried Aurie in her arms, and Austin hobbled past him to reach them. Amidst the plumes of smoke rising, the shouts and screams of waking sleepers, the incessant alarms, and the occasional explosions, Austin and his family were reunited. Jordan watched the expression of happiness on Austin’s face turn to one of shock and then grief. Zoë was crying as she told him something, which Jordan couldn’t quite hear. She pointed back towards the hive as she did so, and Austin held her close.
What’s going on, Austin? What’s wrong?
It’s Zoë’s parents, Jordan. They were in two of the cocoons, and they...
Austin’s thoughts trailed off, but it was clear to Jordan what had happened. During his shared dreamstate with everyone else connected to the hive, Jordan had absorbed all their memories, and Zoë’s missing parents had been amongst the first to be connected, and therefore the first to die. Their memories of Zoë surfaced in his head now, and it was almost too much to bear. He focused on Zoë as she came towards him.
‘Hi Jordan,’ she said, as they approached. Aurie was crying, and Zoë tried her best to comfort her. Other soldiers arrived, too, carrying half-conscious people from the cocoons, and they made their way past Jordan and the others and clambered down the escalators.
‘Do you know where Dad is?’
‘If he’s still there,’ said Zoë, ‘then yes, I do.’ She looked at Mildew, and said, ‘Can you lead us back to the living quarters?’
‘My orders are to evacuate you as quickly as possible,’ he said. ‘The living quarters were evacuated half an hour ago. If he was there, he’ll have been taken by now.’
Jordan began to feel panic welling up again, but he pushed it down. I’ve gotta stay calm, he thought.
Yes, you have, thought Austin to him. Don’t worry, we’ll find him.
‘And we’ve no way of knowing if this whole place is going to blow,’ added Mildew.
‘He won’t go without me, I know it!’ croaked Jordan. ‘I ain’t gonna lose him again. We’ve gotta find him, please!’
Mildew paused, but then a loud, cracking sound reverberated through the building, and they all looked up to see the reinforced glass in the roof begin to fracture. One of the metallic arms which supported the glass began to dissolve in front of their eyes. It was an extraordinary sight; it was as if something unseen was eating away at it, and it left a black, gritty residue as it did so. Then, the ground under their feet began to shudder, and minute holes started to appear in it, randomly at first, but rapidly becoming closer and closer together, until pockets of holes happened so near to each other that they quickly became bigger holes. The same black, gritty substance appeared, and Jordan realised it was the ground itself, not a residue at all.
‘There’s no time to find him,’ yelled Mildew, ‘come on, down the escalators, and try and keep up!’
Entropic Dust
Thursday 13 November 2036
Austin knew what was happening to the hive; he’d figured it out pretty quickly. He didn't stop to think how he knew it; that was obvious, too. It was the hive itself that had given him all the answers. He glanced over at Jordan to see if he’d heard, but Jordan seemed pre-occupied with his own thoughts.
Suddenly, his foot seemed to buckle, and he glanced down to see black specks appearing in the floor, which were gathering closer together at his feet. The floor was starting to give way around him, as if it was trying to eat him up. He glanced quickly at Zoë’s feet, and then at Mildew’s and Jordan’s. Neither Zoë nor Mildew were affected in this way, but Jordan had attracted the specks of black, too, and they were gathering fast. It’s only attracted to time travellers, he thought. We must emit some sort of energy that’s different from everyone else.
‘Come on,’ shouted Zoë, as she moved towards the broken escalators, still carrying Aurie. Austin moved quickly with them, all the while observing what was happening to the ground around his feet. The black specks followed in his wake, and he alerted Jordan to them with a flick of his head.
We need to get to the tube train fast, thought Jordan. We might be able to escape it then.
I hope so, replied Austin, and together they all followed everyone else along a corridor to a flight of steps, which everyone was descending as quickly as they could. We’ve got to let them go first, thought Austin to Jordan, and together they stood back to allow Zoë, Aurie, and Mildew to descend before following after them. As they continued their descent, Austin felt something raining down on his head, and looked up to see the staircase slowly being eaten away into black dust. It was covering all the escapees, and following them as they continued their descent.
‘What the hell is this?’ cried out Mildew, as he brushed some dust off his sleeve.
‘I think it’s entropic dust,’ said Austin, as he reached the soldier.
‘Entropic dust? What’s that, some sort of chemical weapon?’
‘No. It happens all the time, but the hive has speeded the process up.’
‘Can we get rid of it?’
Austin didn’t answer. If I tell him the truth, he may try to force Jordan and I to stay behind, so he can save the others. I can’t take that chance. We have to get back to the time hole!
‘I take it from your silence that we can’t!’ said Mildew, as they reached the bottom of the stairway. People were panicking now, and scared for their lives. They were all trying to squeeze through the exit ahead of them at once. Austin saw Zoë and Aurie being jostled towards the doorway, and knew that there were only moments to act before they were crushed. But before he could do anything, Mildew withdrew his pistol from its holster and fired a shot into the air. People recoiled from the sudden noise, and the bullet ricocheted off the wall above them. In that moment, Austin took his chance and dived into the crowd to save his wife and child.
‘Let the child and her mother out!’ shouted Mildew at the crowd. By this time, Austin had reached Zoë, who handed Aurie to him. He felt a powerful surge of energy shoot from the frightened girl into his body, and then he could feel his wife’s arms grab him tightly. They were knocked from side to side as the mob heaved forwards once again. Austin felt the ground start to give way beneath him, and could just make out the familiar black dust at his feet. The rate of decay seemed to have accelerated, and a thought occurred to him.
‘Jordan!’ he shouted, ‘where are you?’
‘I’m here!’ came the reply, and Austin looked down to see Jordan pushing his way towards him, followed by Mildew.
‘I’ve got an idea,’ said Austin, and
Jordan nodded.
‘I know,’ he said, ‘I shared your thought!’
Together, they pushed their way towards the edge of the doorway, until Austin was leaning against it. He lifted Aurie over his head so she was sitting on his shoulders, and then he touched the doorframe with his left hand.
‘Put your hand onto the wall, Aurie,’ he shouted. She did so, and the effect was immediate. The entropic dust was attracted to their hands, like millions of tiny ants converging on a picnic. Jordan held Austin’s free hand and then reached out and grabbed the hand of the woman next to him. She tried to free herself, but Jordan held on as tightly as he could.
‘Let go!’ she screamed angrily at Jordan, and began to tug her hand away, but Mildew had seen the effect their combined energy was having on the doorframe, and realised what they were up to.
‘Look at the doorframe!’ he said to her, and as she looked up, the frame fell away into dust, and the wall began to disintegrate, making the doorway wider. ‘You’re doing that!’ he added. ‘Now reach out to somebody else!’
Several people heard him shout, and looked at the wall, too. Then the ground under their feet started to give way, and everyone pushed forwards again. Several people lost their balance, and grabbed onto each other for support. As they all went down, the entropic dust spread across the wall as if it were flames chasing a trail of petrol. It fed on the combined entropic energy of all the gathered time travellers, freeing the desperate escapees into the outer corridor.
Austin fell to his knees, and Aurie screamed, but he managed to keep her from falling. He felt Zoë let him go, and then Aurie was lifted from his shoulders and he sagged to the ground. He looked around for Jordan, and saw Mildew help him back to his feet. Then he glanced over at the wall, and discovered that the entropic dust had run its course. He looked down at the ground beneath him. There were now only a few small black holes appearing around him.
‘To your feet, soldier!’ said Mildew. ‘We’ve got a way to go yet if we want to reach the last tube out of here!’
Austin rose to his feet, and dusted himself down. ‘Where to?’ he asked.
‘This way!’ the soldier replied, and the five of them made their way down the corridor, followed by a few of the other escapees who hadn’t already run off.
They soon reached another flight of steps, this time much wider, and as they made their way down them, Austin glanced back to see if the entropic dust was still following in their wake.
‘I think it’s stopped,’ said Jordan.
‘I hope so,’ said Austin, ‘or we’ll be in for a short ride on the train!’
Once down the stairs, they went through two double doors and Austin realised that they were back in the lobby where the lift that took them up towards the hive was situated. They followed the crowd of escapees, some limping, some being helped along by others, all looking the worse for their experiences. They all pushed and shoved their way along the narrow corridor to the small wooden door at the other end, which was already open.
As they came closer, Austin heard the shouts of soldiers desperately trying to keep order, and the screams of people as they were jostled about on the platform. As they all emerged through the doorway, Austin glanced backwards one final time, and was relieved to find that they were the last people to arrive.
‘There’s only three carriages!’ shouted Zoë, ‘and they’re all pretty packed!’
‘Is my dad on board?’ said Jordan, jumping up to try and see over the heads of the remaining people yet to board the tube.
‘Come on,’ said Mildew, taking his hand, ‘we’ll try and see, shall we?’
Jordan looked back at Austin, and Austin said, ‘Go! We’ll follow!’
As Jordan made off through the crowd, Austin grabbed Zoë’s hand and pulled her close. He looked at his daughter, who was clinging to her mother, and had her eyes tightly shut. ‘Let’s go,’ he said, ‘I have a feeling they’ll be closing the doors any second!’
They pushed their way through the crowd, and just as they reached Jordan and Mildew, the doors did indeed begin to close, and Jordan shouted, ‘Dad! That’s Dad! Wait! Don’t close the doors!’
Into the Tunnel
Thursday 13 November 2036
For Jordan, this was almost more than he could bear. He tried to run forwards to jump onto the train and stop the doors from closing, but Austin did so at the same time and they merely bumped into each other. The carriage doors slid shut with a determined ‘thunk!’, and Jordan let out an anguished cry. He watched helplessly as the train jerked forwards, and then slowly pick up speed. There were still a few people left on the platform, and Jordan pushed one old lady aside so he could edge forwards enough to see his dad. He ignored her protests, and waved furiously at Ron, who was sat against the window with one of his hands pressed against the glass.
‘Dad!’ he shouted. ‘I’ll catch up. I promise!’
Jordan saw his dad mouth something to him, but he couldn’t quite make out what it was. ‘What did he say?’ he said, turning to Austin and Zoë.
‘I think it was I love you, son,’ said Zoë, with tears in her eyes.
Jordan looked away as soon as she said this, because he couldn’t bear to see her upset, but also because he wanted, no, needed to be brave right now. I won’t cry, he thought, no more tears. He took a deep breath, held it for a second, then let it out slowly. He’d seen his dad do this on many occasions, especially when they talked about his mum. It seemed to help him then, and now Jordan understood why.
‘What do we do now?’ said Austin.
‘Won’t there be another train along soon?’ said the old lady that Jordan had pushed aside.
‘I’m afraid not,’ said Mildew, who now made his way through the crowd to the edge of the platform. Another soldier joined him, and together they started to do a head count. I bet there’s 13 of us, Jordan thought.
‘Twelve,’ said Mildew.
‘Yup,’ said the other soldier. ‘That’s what I make it, too.’
Jordan looked around him and did a quick headcount of his own, trying to take in who was with him on the platform. There was Austin, Zoë and Aurie, of course, together with the two soldiers, Mildew and the other one. Jordan decided to call him Jenkins. He thought it suited him, and it gave him some measure of control over these strangers to name them. That’s six, including me, he thought.
There was the old lady whom Jordan had pushed past; she had white hair, and wore a pale green skirt and a dark green coat. She glared at him when their eyes met. I’m gonna keep outa your way, Mavis, thought Jordan, giving her what he thought was an old lady name.
There was a tall, middle-aged man wearing glasses standing behind her; he wore a dark blue suit, and his tie was still neatly placed round his neck. Looks like Jeremy’s a bit of a nerd, thought Jordan, I'd have taken the tie off long ago.
To his left, stood a large, fat man in his late twenties, who wore a black t-shirt and jeans, with old, white trainers. The jeans had holes in the knees and were frayed at the ends. Jordan noticed that his hands were shaking. What’s wrong with you, Brian, he thought, cold or sick?
Next to him was a young woman in a Sari, who was shivering. Must’ve gone through a time hole during the summer, he thought. He considered giving her his sweatshirt, but it was the only thing he had to wear. Sorry, Sita, he thought, and then used his fingers to add the four new people to his grand total. That makes ten.
Behind her was a short, balding man in a silver tracksuit whom he named Kevin. The woman next to him was taller, and wore a pale grey twin set with matching shoes. She had her hand on his shoulder, and it took a moment before Jordan realised she was blind. You must be so frightened, Maya, he thought. Well, that's twelve.
Then, he sensed movement behind her, and a tall young man wearing a hoodie, jeans and trainers moved into his sight. The hood was pulled up over his face, but Jordan couldn't help feeling that he knew him somehow. Ironically, he was the only one he couldn’t name
, so he just called him Hoodie. There are 13, he thought. I knew it. They must've miscounted.
‘How’re we going to make it out of here?’ said Zoë, ‘I’ve got a child who desperately needs something to eat and drink.’
The mention of food made Jordan realise just how hungry and thirsty he was. With all the panic he hadn’t had time to focus on himself, and now that he did, he felt quite ill. Several others in the crowd had obviously thought the same thing, because they all started to chatter at once. Mildew gave a sudden, loud whistle, and they quietened down.
‘Listen, people,’ he began, ‘we don’t have much choice, I’m afraid. We’re going to have to start walking down the tunnel, because I don’t know how much time we have before the hive goes kablooey! You saw what was happening to the stairs as we came down. If that continues to happen, and the hive collapses, it may break through into the tunnel, and then we’ll have to swim for it, 'cos this tunnel's underwater!'
As if to punctuate his exclamation, there was a rumble, and flecks of rock and earth began to rain down on everyone from between the wooden struts that held the roof of the platform above their heads. Jordan heard a chorus of concerned and panic-edged voices around him, and then Jeremy said, ‘but we can’t go onto the tracks. What about the third rail? It’ll electrocute us!’
The crowd murmured in agreement, and he took it upon himself to go back towards the door that led to the lift.
‘Don’t go back that way,’ said Jordan, ‘it ain’t safe!’
Of course, being only 13, Jordan’s warning was ignored, and several people decided to go back with the man. However, when he opened the door, smoke belched out at them, and he quickly closed the door again. Coughing and spluttering, he rejoined the group, followed by the others.
‘He did try to warn you,’ said Austin, and turned to give Jordan a grin, rolling his eyes at them.
‘Right!' said Mildew, 'Let’s get to the end of the platform. There’s a short passage of tunnel that we have to traverse before it widens out a bit, then there’s a narrow maintenance walkway that we can use. Let’s move people!’
With that, they were off. All 13 of them walked to the platform’s end, and Mildew and the other soldier helped everyone down onto the tracks. Then Mildew shone a torch ahead of them, and pointed out the electric rail. They edged carefully along the tunnel for a few metres, and Jordan could feel his heart thumping in his chest. He couldn’t help imagining what would happen if he stumbled and fell onto the rail, and he felt hot and sticky, even though the tunnel was quite cold.
Eventually they reached the maintenance walkway, which was about two foot wide, and had three concrete steps leading up to it. There were iron posts at intervals along the edge, and a thin wire was threaded through the tops of them. Mildew stood to the side and ushered everyone up the steps. The other soldier went up first, then turned around and took Maya’s hand to help her up.
'Careful, love,' he said, 'take it very slowly, 'cos it ain't very wide up here. You can hold onto my back if ya like.'
'Thank-you, em...?'
'Private Jenkins, Ma'am.'
‘Call me Maya.’
'Yes, ma'am.'
Blimey, thought Jordan, I got both their names right!
The two of them made their way carefully down the narrow walkway, and disappeared into the darkness. All Jordan could see was the flickering light from Private Jenkins' torch. Kevin went up next, and Jordan thought he looked more than a little miffed that Jenkins had taken over his duties.
Jordan made way for Mavis, hoping it would go some way to make up for pushing her aside earlier, but she just scowled at him. Jeremy, Brian and Sita all made their way past him, too. I only meant to let the old bag in, thought Jordan, not you lot an’ all! Austin was next, and he gestured for Jordan to go in front of him. Jordan smiled reluctantly, and climbed the steps to the walkway.
At the top, he turned to ask Austin something, and saw that Zoë had given him Aurie to carry. ‘Do you recognise the guy in the hoodie?’ he whispered.
Austin shook his head. ‘No,’ he said, ‘but I keep thinking I should do.’
‘Me too,’ replied Jordan.
Jordan glanced behind him to see that Hoodie had climbed up after Austin, and Mildew had followed after him. He shone his torch along the outer edge of the walkway, so those in front could see the wire and the posts. Jordan ran his hand along it to keep himself straight.
They continued walking for about thirty minutes, and only the sound of breathing, the occasional cough and the hollow echo of their footsteps could be heard. Then, suddenly, there was a flash from the electric rail that lit up the tunnel for a second. It was like somebody had taken a photo with an extremely bright flashlight. Several people screamed, and even Mildew cried out in alarm.
'What the hell was that?' said a voice from up ahead.
Before anyone could answer, there was an explosion from behind them, and a series of loud crashes, then the sound of gushing water.
'Jesus!' cried Mildew, 'the tunnel's collapsing! Run!'
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