Immortal Suicide: A Fight Across Time And Space

by Simon Bown

  An officer collected Lucy and led her through the inner security to a long tall desk. Several men and women dressed in dirty, torn clothing sat on a long wooden bench opposite, Lucy joined them and grimaced at the body odour.

  The officer behind the desk looked up and pointed at Lucy. “You, come here.”

  His tired, bored manner indicated to Lucy she would get no sympathy or even civility from the man. She approached the desk.

  “Name?”

  Lucy considered giving a false name but thought it would be pointless. “Lucy Harcourt.”

  The officer typed her name into a terminal and picked up a small gun shaped device. “Give me your arm.” He pulled Lucy’s arm over the desk, put the apparatus to her wrist and as a loud ‘snap’ sounded Lucy felt a sharp pain. “You have a positioning implant now, we can trace your movements inside and outside the city.”

  Lucy looked at her wrist, she could see something small under her skin. She sat with the others waiting on the bench and rubbed her wrist with her thumb.

  The old man next to him laughed. “It hurts doesn’t it.” He said.

  “Yes. What happens next?”

  “Well they throw us out of the city. We go back to fighting for food and sleeping in the dirt.”

  A pair of officers led them through the building to a large steel door. Lucy followed the others outside into a large cage. She stopped, ahead of her was the city of tents and improvised shelter. She looked back to see the large door close, there was no way back in, the rift would open tomorrow morning and she would miss it. The old man was let out of the cage, Lucy quickened her step and caught up with him. “Hello I didn’t get your name. I’m Lucy.”

  The old man stopped and looked at Lucy’s clothing. “Where are you from?” He asked.

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Even though a conversation had been started Lucy got the impression the old man was not the friendliest of characters.

  “I’m Harmon Waldrist.” Harmon put his hand on his forehead to shield his eyes and looked at Lucy as if weighing her up. He spat on the floor and started walking toward the sea of pathetic shelter.

  Lucy followed him. “Can you tell me how to get back into the city?”

  “The only way in for the likes of me and you is with the work gangs in the morning.”

  “Work gangs?” Lucy thought they sounded like slave labour.

  “Where did you say you were from?”

  “I didn’t say. What is a work gang?”

  “They give us the jobs no one else wants to do. Mostly sewage work and street cleaning.” Harmon was clearly disgusted. “I had three nights in the city before they caught me.”

  “How did you avoid capture for three nights?” Lucy asked. “Can’t they find you with these implants?”

  Harmon smiled. “These implants are okay if you are on your own but they are useless in a crowd.”

  Lucy felt slightly relieved, she had a chance to get back into the city. The hard part was to befriend Harmon and persuade him to help her in the morning.

  They entered the foul smelling edge of the township and passed piles of rotting waste and makeshift tents constructed from cardboard and ripped plastic sheeting. People sat in the shade of their poor homes and watched them pass, their eyes empty and without hope, without life. Lucy stopped for a moment at the sight of a dead body lying next to a collapsed dwelling. The corpse’s inert eyes stared up at her and cut into her emotions. Movement was impossible as Lucy gazed upon the sad remains and realised this fate may await her if she didn’t act and make sure she was inside the city by the morning. The man’s clothing was torn where an animal had tried to take a bite from him. The smell turned Lucy’s stomach. She moved forward and joined Harmon.

  “The trick is to stay in the most populated areas.” Harmon continued oblivious to the sadness around them. “They can pinpoint you down to a few square metres but if you are surrounded by people you’ll see them before they see you. Why did they pick you up?”

  “I have no credit disk. I’m from England and we don’t always carry them with us. If I can get back in tomorrow morning, I can get to the hotel. Will you help me?”

  Harmon pondered the question. “Yeah I can help you. But it will cost you.”

  Lucy considered her options and decided she had no choice but to continue to lie. “Okay, I’ll pay. You get me in before dawn. What do you want?”

  Harmon eyed Lucy suspiciously. “Ten thousand and you pay for the disk.”

  The two of them located Harmon’s pitiful shelter. He dug a fuel can up from the middle of his dirt floor and started a small fire.

  Lucy sat cross legged in the dust and stared into the flames. Everything had gone wrong, she had hoped of a future for herself as a benign time traveller searching through earth’s history and recording events for a true picture untainted by interpretation or politics. Hitler, the building of the pyramids, Da Vinci and even the death of the dinosaurs had been on her list. Now she was considering giving up the idea and passing her invention on to more hardy people, but she didn’t know if she could trust anybody to use the gravity generator solely for research. If the military got hold of it, they may abuse the technology. No, releasing the design was not an option, if she does get back to her own time she will hide her invention and contemplate what to do with it.

  The day passed slowly and uncomfortably, Harmon took Lucy to a charity tent where she had some tasteless food and gained a few pints of water. Wind occasionally blew the dust into her eyes and Lucy decided to wait out the rest of her time in the small shelter. Harmon disappeared for a few hours, he said he was going to look for some friends but Lucy had the impression he was up to something. Heat took its toll through the afternoon but after the sun set she found the conditions more comfortable. The supply of fuel ran out in the early hours of the night and the fire died away to a pile of dull embers. Harmon reappeared drunk and slightly stoned. Lucy could not find a restful position on the dirt floor but would have been unable to sleep anyway. The intermittent sound of gun shots punctuated the hours and she was glad that at least she was hidden inside the little tent.

  Eventually Harmon sat upright and prodded Lucy. “Time to get moving, people will be starting to gather at the gates. If we want to get on one of the gangs, we better hurry.”

  Lucy could make out a desperate scene at the gates from quite a distance. Powerful spotlights supported by tall steel poles cut through the morning darkness and drew sharp shadows of the scene across the desert floor. A frantic multitude fought to get closer to the platform where the foremen decided who would work and who would not. Ten large airbuses waited to the side of the platform, one of them lifted off the ground and turned to pass through the gates. Steam rose from the crowd as the men and women pushed and wrestled to try and get to the front. The individual voices combined into a loud, raucous noise and deafened Lucy as she joined the back of the mass.

  Harmon grabbed Lucy’s arm and pushed forward into the crowd. He shouted over his shoulder. “These guys hire for the street cleaning, the guys over there hire for the sewage works. Stay close, I know the foreman up front, if he spots me we’re in.”

  Lucy received an elbow in the ribs as she pushed ahead. The further they advanced the more apprehensive the bulk of the crowd became, two or three times Harmon was cut off from Lucy’s sight and she fought bitterly to push forward and regain her position next to him. Finally, the density of the mob prevented any further movement. Harmon looked over his shoulder and indicated a change in their direction to the left. This confused Lucy a little as it would do them no good, at that moment a brawl broke out to their right. The fight quickly gained impetus and more men were drawn into the fray. The crowd pressure eased leaving the way open for Lucy and Harmon to push ahead. The foremen moved to the side of the platform to get a better view of the fracas. They reached the edge of the platform. Harmon shouted and waved his arms in an attempt to get noticed. A ripple of pressure moved through the crowd and al
most knocked Lucy off her feet. The press of bodies was becoming unbearable. A man to her left vomited onto the platform and was pulled backward into the mob. Lucy tried to move but was pinned to the platform’s edge, the bulk of bodies swayed forward and she choked on the disgusting odour of the men around her.

  At last a foreman indicated to his assistant to pull Harmon from the mass, for a moment Lucy thought she would be left behind but Harmon pointed to her and she too was lifted to safety. A relieved Lucy followed Harmon off the back of the platform and onto an airbus. It quickly filled with more dishevelled workers and they moved to the back to make room. The doors closed and Lucy noticed the whine of the air conditioning reach maximum, she hoped it would remove the oppressive smell.

  The airbus slowly lifted off the parking bay and entered the city through the gates. The decrepit old bus lacked the smooth ride Lucy had experienced in the police air car and she was glad she had not eaten too much the day before as it bounced along its route. She wondered if she was the only one worried by the sudden swerves and turns as it picked up an impressive speed. Of even greater worry was how she would get away from Harmon. He may be an old man but he doesn’t look to be frail and incapable of getting little violent if needed.

  A holographic image shimmered to life at the head of the cabin. “You will be working today cleaning the streets of Clinton. You will receive food at nine am, one pm and six pm. If anyone decides to leave the work crew and try and disappear into the city they will be caught and expelled immediately. We will not tolerate any abuse of the system. There are rules posted around the cabin make sure you read them.” The hologram faded and vanished.

  Lucy whispered in Harmon’s ear. “Why do they let you back in even though you have gone astray before?”

  “The implants are very basic. The city doesn’t spend the money it should on effective technology. The records they have of who comes and goes are reliant on names. Every time I am expelled I give a different name.” Harmon smiled and shrugged.

  “But don’t the foremen know you are likely to abscond?”

  “They work eight hours, we work twelve. I only run when the afternoon foreman comes on shift. The morning man is always the same and he thinks I’m a good worker so he’ll always pick me.”

  Leaving the work gang early was Lucy’s only real problem. She knew she had been picked up in the Clinton district so getting back to the rift should be easy once she was away.

  The airbus slowed and landed with a bump. The passengers disembarked and formed a line. An access door at the back of the bus opened revealing a large number of tools.

  The foreman exited the bus and barked out his orders. “Take one bag and one brush, clear the street of litter. The time is now five thirty I expect you finished here by six.”

  The rift was due open soon, Lucy had little time before she would have to make good her absence.

  Harmon indicated they should move. The assistant foreman watched them take their tools and move away. The street lights switched off, the sun was now over the horizon and Lucy, now very aware of every passing second, examined the area for a quick escape. They worked together picking up the litter all the time moving further away from the airbus. All Lucy needed was one moment when the foreman was looking the other way and she could dart out of sight.

  Harmon noticed Lucy’s apprehension and whispered to her. “We can vanish after dinner when the other foreman comes on duty, until then we work.”

  “I can’t wait. I have to leave now otherwise I cannot get home.”

  Harmon grabbed her, pushed her against the wall and caught her eyes with an intense stare. He spat his words at her in a quiet precise voice. “You will not leave until I say. We have a deal to get you into the city. That deal doesn’t include you messing everything up for me after you leave.”

  Lucy glanced over Harmon’s shoulder and whispered. “I’m sorry.” The foreman had entered the bus. Lucy slipped out of Harmon’s grip and darted around a corner. She broke into a sprint as she crossed the street. For a split second the world lacked sound, the intensity of her situation altered her perception increasing some sensations and decreasing others. Her circumstances broke into sharp relief when Harmon’s cry for help reached her ears.

  The foreman and one of his assistants emerged from the corner running.

  Lucy reached the end of the street and entered a radial junction with several pathways leading off in different directions. She paused and looked down each route. At the end of one of the pathways, shops, just in sight, might be where she was picked up and that area could lead her to the rift. She charged into the small lane and found a small passageway off the lane. She fell into the passage and collapsed onto the dirt. Her legs shivered from the effort of running and every breath clawed at her raw throat.

  The foreman and his assistant entered the junction shortly after Lucy’s exit. They stopped and searched each direction. The foreman pulled his terminal from his belt and asked to be connected to the police network.

  Lucy looked out from the small passage and could just make out what the foreman was saying into his terminal. She sat in the dirt, anger and frustration reigned over her emotions, if the police were also searching for her she may never get home. She had no choice she would have to run now, the view of the two men was not good but she did see them make their choices and run down different pathways. She got to her feet and continued to the end of the pathway. A police air car passed low over the shopping precinct as she entered the area. The locale was by no means empty, she paused by a street sign to get her bearings, Clinton was just half a mile away. She ran through the crowds in the direction of the rift. The police air car returned and slowed close to Lucy. As she turned a corner she was struck by a sense of familiarity, this was where she was arrested.

  The police air car descended as Lucy left the shopping area in the direction of the rift. A small sphere came down from the base of the air car and locked into position. The air car ascended and chased Lucy out of the precinct.

  A graviton beam struck the ground next to Lucy and caught the edge of her foot. It was enough to cause her to stumble and she changed direction. The air car passed overhead and turned to face her, once again the beam fractionally missed Lucy as she ran between two houses and out of sight. Several roof tiles were dislodged as the gravity drive of the air car powered low over the house to cut her off. Lucy double backed on the air car and she ran back onto the street and crossed to where the rift had opened. Her movement became laboured and she realised she was caught in a graviton beam. Progress forward was slow but she was still moving. Her basement was clearly visible through the rift. She just had to make a few more feet. Finally, just short of the rift she became completely immobile, the air car landed as the rift closed. Lucy cried out in frustration. Tears started to well up in her eyes as the shock of this terrifying reality struck her.

  Lucy sat dazed and desperate in the back of the police air car. The journey to the security building passed quickly but she didn’t notice what was going on around her. She struggled to come to terms with her horrifying predicament but found no avenue of understanding. After being processed she was dumped outside the walls more hopeless and lonely than any of the refugees. She walked to the nearest water pump and took a drink. Wind lifted some dust and dropped it in her cup. Lucy threw it to the ground and kicked it away. She dropped to her knees and screamed. The shock and stress of being stranded in this hell of a future clawed at her psyche, twisting her every thought, emptying her heart of all hope. Travelling in time had given her her absolute fulfilment in life. Dreams never really came true for anyone but they had for Lucy, until now. How proud she had been. How full of excitement and how full of plans. She wept without care, her tears mixed with her snot and dripped onto her clothes. The shock was too much for her. She collapsed into the dirt, curled into a ball and cried like a child.

  Time passed, the heat of the midday sun became too much and she decided it was time to move. The locked charity bu
ildings offered no hope and she was forced to look elsewhere for shelter. The intense temperature increased as the day progressed and Lucy, still in shock, suffered sun burn. A queue had formed outside a large green shabby tent where volunteers from the city were serving food. She stood in line, collected her food and sat at a table. For a few minutes she just stared at the food, she had no appetite, no desire even to live but she ate anyway. She had nothing else to do. A hand rested on her shoulder, she turned and looked up to see a most unexpected sight. It was Barton Hartshorn.

  “Lucy I’m so glad I’ve found you. I really need your help.”

  WEEDON BEC

  (Three Years Earlier)

  The lift doors opened to reveal Carol Archer on her way to the bridge. Carol was wearing a grey crew jumpsuit. It fitted loosely over her slim frame. Her short red hair framed her clear porcelain white freckled face. Weedon stepped in and waited for the doors to close.

  Carol looked up at Weedon and smiled. “Hello Weedon. Did you sleep well?” She asked.

  Weedon sometimes struggled to understand her strange accent and it took a couple of seconds for him to interpret what she had said. “Good morning Doctor. Well enough, Emily kept waking up but I soon fell back to sleep.”

  “Speaking of Emily, I thought you were coming to my surgery when she had her check-up. She is flourishing you know. For a three-year-old on a ship like this it’s a testimony to both you and Julie as parents.”

  “I can’t take much of the credit. Julie is just amazing with her.” The lift doors opened and Weedon allowed Carol to leave first.

  “Are you still leaving at the end of your year here? I know the Captain would like you to stay but I can’t think it’s a good place for a child like Emily. I’ve known the three of you for only a few months but you are good friends and I’ll be sorry to see you go.”

  “Yes we are definitely leaving. The pay here is superb but as you say it’s no place for a child like Emily. We have a house booked on Sorengaard, if it is the planet we think it is we‘ll buy and settle down.” They entered the bridge. Weedon walked to the pilot seat and took his place. The calculations for the jump to Desit Redro were all completed the day they had arrived but he went through them again. He had a reputation for opening a wormhole exit at the exact location required, an accomplishment that not many pilots could match.