Anna’s Father was really happy for us, and David, my best man, gave a speech saying that he couldn’t imagine a better husband for his sister. It was a wonderful day, yet all the time, in the back of my mind, was the thought that it was all so temporary. I knew Anna felt it too.
While we honeymooned on the East Coast of the Isle of Wight, the other Jumpers were sent on another jump, three hundred years into the future. I didn’t have to go this time because I’d been on the extra jump when I rescued John, and my body needed time to adjust to the temporal stress.
I wasn’t the only one to stay behind; the recently exposed, resolute Earthsong members weren’t sent either. They had been permanently excluded from the programme.
On the final day of our honeymoon Anna wanted to sleep in so I left her in bed and went downstairs to eat. After a breakfast of cereal, orange juice and toast I went back upstairs to our room. Anna was still sleeping so I took the opportunity to check the happenings of the latest jump on Carla’s website. Carla had written of her experiences and observations:
‘As soon as I was drawn through time and regained my bearings, I realised that the New York of the future was a most precarious place in which to find myself. A few seconds previously I had been standing on Pine Street, next to the American International Building. On inspection I realised that the hill next to me was made up of the crumbled, fallen remains of this magnificent building. In natural time it stood two hundred and ninety metres high, having sixty-six floors. (I checked the details when I returned to natural time).
Many office blocks and shopping centres had already fallen, their foundations weakened and corroded by years of precipitation, hastened, of course, by flooding caused by blocked drainage channels. This was evident from the many pools of water gathered in what was originally the street. Rambling vegetation almost completely covered the huge piles of debris left from the collapse of these once majestic buildings. They lay amongst the decaying remains of other more robust buildings, appearing as small hills, giving the landscape a new horizon.
I stood dumfounded at the sight of this once great city. Nature had completely reclaimed the land. Many streets, built over ancient watercourses, had reverted back into flowing rivers. Trees, bushes, moss and long grasses covered the area making it hard to even imagine where the roads, pavements and city squares had once been.
I decided to follow the nearest river in the direction of its flow. It was early springtime, evidenced by the many spring flowers beginning to bloom. Yellow Lesser Celandine and lilac Periwinkle poked their heads out from between the broken bricks and soft mosses, fighting for their share of the warm sunshine. After walking for some time I reached an area where fewer buildings remained standing. It felt safer there.
Far against the horizon I witnessed the demise of a huge skyscraper, the wind causing it to fall in seconds. Thousands of tonnes of steel and concrete crashed down causing a huge dust cloud to billow outwards and upwards. The noise was immense, but less than thirty seconds later all was once more quiet, excepting for the sounds of the flowing river and occasional birdsong coming from the trees.’
Similar stories flooded the website from all over the world, in fact wherever there was a city.
Las Vegas had almost disappeared under huge sand dunes, and London was nearly destroyed, its demise hastened by the continual flooding of the Thames. The Thames barrier hadn’t been raised since mankind disappeared and would have corroded beyond any hope of repair many years ago.
“Steve.” Anna was calling me so put the tab-phone back in my jacket pocket and went to see what she wanted.
“I feel better now,” she said, stretching. “Did you have breakfast?”
“Yes, I thought I’d let you sleep a little longer. You need to get ready for the journey home. I left your new outfit over the back of the chair and packed everything else before I went downstairs.”
“Aww, thanks, you’re so good to me. I was thinking, could we travel back through one of your parallel vortex things?”
“Funny you should say that. Dad rang earlier and suggested the same thing. He wants to send us to your Dad’s as they need me at Section tomorrow.”
Anna showered, which took longer than usual because I joined her, then we got ready to leave.
I went downstairs, signed out of the visitor’s book, gave the keys in, and paid the bill, then sneaked back upstairs to the room. Anna was sitting on the bed waiting for me with our suitcases.
I rang Dad on my tab-phone saying, “Ready to roll.”
“Ok Steve, this will take about twenty seconds,” he replied.
As the vortex started opening I heard Mrs. Tandy, the guest house owner, calling to one of her cleaning staff on the stairway, telling her to change the sheets in room seven, our room.
A woman answered her in a strong welsh accent, “I can’t yet, they’re still in there.”
“They can’t be, Mr. Blakely just gave the keys in.”
“Well I saw him going back upstairs and heard him shutting the door.”
“Right I can’t have this; I’m sending Mr. Tandy up there now.”
Inside number seven I was passing our luggage to my father though the vortex. Anna stepped through first. As I joined her I heard the bedroom door opening, but it was too late: we were miles away at a secure location. I grinned trying to imagine the look on Mr. Tandy’s face as he opened the door and discovered we had gone, vanished into thin air.
“Welcome back kids,” Dad said with a grin. “I won’t ask if you enjoyed your honeymoon.”
Anna smiled and looked down, a little embarrassed.
“Right,” said Dad, “sorry to hurry you but it’s a long drive to the smallholding so you’d better get started.”
“Aren’t we going by vortex?” I asked. “It would be much quicker.”
“Yes but then you wouldn’t have your car. Relying on vortex transport makes you lazy. A vortex will take you as far as Manchester Airport where you left the old banger,” Dad said cheekily. “You’ll have to drive the rest of the way.”
“Can’t you create a vortex large enough to drive through?”
__________
The journey took the rest of the day; we didn’t rush and stopped off for lunch at a very nice pub/restaurant just off the M6 near Carlisle.
Anna went up to bed early as she was exhausted from our travels. David was still at the pub with some friends so I sat downstairs with George.
“It’s very good of you to let us stay here,” I said to him.
“I was meaning to talk to you about that Steve.”
Oh dear, I thought, it’s his house after all … and it is a bit crowded with the two undercover minders here as well.
“We can look for a flat in town after the Christmas break,” I suggested.
“That’s ok son, there’s a small cottage over the hill. Remember, I pointed it out to you when we walked up the top field?” I nodded. “Well it belongs to the smallholding. I’ve had the farmhands working on it. It’s clean, dry and decorated ready for you to move in. You and Anna can have a look at it tomorrow if you’d like to.”
“Thank you. She’ll be really pleased.”
George looked thoughtful, “Have you been following the news while you’ve been away?” he asked.
“Not particularly. Why?”
“I wondered what you thought about the new flu jabs. It’s been all over the papers and the television; they want to inoculate as many people as possible. I’m not sure I want a part of it though. We don’t meet many people up here and I never get flu very badly.”
“I did hear about that,” I said. “I think they’re expecting a very bad strain this year and next so everybody should have it. Everyone at work has their name on the list.”
“I’ll think about it,” George said dismissively.
The next morning Anna and I walked up the lane to view the cottage. The ground floor comprised of a spacious living room, a small dinning room, a kitchen and a downstairs bathroo
m.
“Wow, this used to be nearly derelict,” she said in amazement. “I used to play house here when I was kid.” She laughed, “Now I get to do it for real.”
“It must have cost your father quite a lot to do this place up and furnish it … and he’s fitted a new kitchen, and the carpets smell really new,” I said.
“Dad was financially secure before we bought the smallholding,” Anna explained. “He used to do something with the Stock Market before we moved up here, and he still owns several properties around the country that he rents out.”
“You never mentioned that before. Hey, I married a rich girl.”
Anna led the way up the narrow stairs. I ducked under an exposed beam and stepped onto the landing. Anna’s petite frame fitted under it easily. The tan coloured stair carpet continued the length of the landing. On our right was a small window allowing a view over the hills, and a little further along the landing were three doors. The first door led to a small-unfurnished bedroom.
Anna gasped with delight as she walked through the second doorway. The walls were painted a very pale lemon and there was a fitted, white ash wardrobe at the far end of the room facing a double bed.
“It’s perfect,” she shrieked in excitement. “Our new bedroom.” She ran over to the window and rested her fingers on a mirror set standing on a dressing table. “This was Nan’s; it’s very old … Queen Anne I think.”
The walls, carpet, curtains and bed linen all matched perfectly making the room look like it had come out of a fashion magazine.
I joined my new wife by the window. “Come here Mrs. Blakely,” I said as I took hold of Anna and led her to the bed. She giggled as we fell onto it. Soon we were kissing passionately.
Anna had undone my shirt and I was sliding my hand inside her blouse when we heard a deep voice calling from downstairs.
“Steve, you up there? You’ve had a call on this tab-phone contraption.” It was George. I wished I hadn’t left the tab-phone at the farmhouse and we’d locked the front door when we came in. “They said they’d ring back in a few minutes,” he shouted up the stairs.
I heard the tab-phone ring again.
“Blast,” I mumbled under my breath. Anna shared my disappointment at being disturbed.
“We should have put a sign on the door,” she joked. I made sure my shirt was done up correctly then went back downstairs to where George was speaking into the tab-phone.
“He’s here now,” he said handing me the device. It was Gemma.
“I have to speak to you as soon as possible. Can we meet up?” she asked. I could tell from her voice that she was very upset about something. “Oh, and you can’t tell anyone, except for Anna of course, but definitely no one from Section.”
I didn’t want to say too much in front of George, and didn’t know if he could hear what Gemma was saying to me so I said, “It would be very nice to see you. I’ll speak to Anna about it and maybe we can come down for a couple of days.”
“Ring me later.”
“Sure, bye.”
George looked at me questioningly. I knew he was watching out for his daughter and was wondering why a woman was ringing me.
“That was Gemma, a childhood friend.” I told him. As I spoke Anna joined me, slipping her arms around my waist and giving me a hug.
“Has Gemma invited us down?”
“Yes, I said I’d speak to you first and ring her back later.” George seemed satisfied.
“So you like the way I’ve done the place up?” he asked, directing the question to us both.
Anna answered first, running over to him and throwing her arms around him, “It’s wonderful Dad; you’ve worked very hard.”
“Well I had a little help choosing the colour scheme, and carpets and all those things women like, but I’m very pleased with the result,” he said, clearly happy that we liked it.
I agreed with Anna, “Yes, it’s brilliant, thank you so much for letting us stay here.”
“Think of it as a wedding present,” he added. “I’m putting the cottage into your joint names. You can stay here as long as you like, or just use it as a holiday cottage when you need a break from the city.” He paused, “I do ask you to give me first refusal if you ever want to sell it though. It’s part of the smallholding you see. I’m doing something similar for David too. It’s a great way of avoiding a little inheritance tax.”
Anna hugged her Dad more tightly. She looked as excited as a small child on Christmas morning.
I said, “George I don’t know how I can ever thank you.”
“Just look after my daughter and make her happy.”
“I always will.”
He continued, “I didn’t furnish the spare bedroom as I didn’t know if you would want to use it for a computer room, a guest room, or, in the future, a nursery.”
“We’ve only been married six days, so I’ll let you know about the nursery,” Anna said, smiling at her father.
__________
We spent the night in our new home and drove down to Hereford the following morning to see Gemma.
“You sure you can manage to drive the sports car?” I asked Anna. “It has overdrive on third and fourth gears—that’s the switch on the top of the gear stick—and it has double body panels, so despite its size it weighs over a tonne. And with no power steering and a thirteen inch steering wheel it can be a bit heavy to handle at low speeds.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt your baby,” Anna answered with a cheeky grin. “Have you ever thought of getting it sprayed the same colour all over? It kind of stands out from the crowd.”
“Just the way I like it,” I answered. “It has character.”
The journey—a little over three hundred and fifty miles—took over six hours. Anna now held a full driving licence, so despite my apprehension I let her drive some of the way. This made it much easier on me as previously I’d had to do all the driving.
Gemma didn’t live near to a motorway, the closest being at Worcester, so we had to use slower roads for the last thirty-five miles of the journey. The roads twisted and turned only allowing overtaking in two places. We followed a lorry for miles, and when we eventually passed it we immediately got stuck behind a tractor. Travelling by vortex would have been so much easier, but I’d promised I wouldn’t let anyone at Section know about our trip, and I couldn’t get access to the vortex technology without going through either my father or Vanessa.
Gemma had booked us a room at The Oak, a guesthouse near to her flat. Anna and I arrived mid-afternoon, tired and travel weary. I carried our bags up the steep stairs to our room and we flopped down on the bed to rest for a while.
“Why did you need to bring so much luggage?” I gasped, quite out of breath. “We’re only staying a few days.”
“I’m a make up artist; I need my make up and a choice of clothes and shoes, and my warm boots.”
“And the kitchen sink,” I added.
“Don’t be sexist,” she said, laughing and giving me a playful slap on my leg.
“Well, you’ve worn me out with those heavy bags, I’m even too tired to make love. This bed feels so good; I want to sleep.”
“Ok old man,” Anna teased, “I’ll let you off just this once.”
Two hours later we were sitting in Gemma’s flat, having freshened up and feeling rested. Anna had only met Gemma a few times but the two girls seemed to get on well.
Gemma made us hot drinks and offered us an enormous piece of chocolate cake while she talked about the weather and Adam, a guy she’d dated for a couple of months.
“He’s a norm. It’s not serious or anything,” she said, “just a bit of fun.”
I said, “It’s never serious with you Gemma, will you ever let anyone get close.”
“I did once, but never again,” she answered, her mood less cheerful. “Anyway, there doesn’t seem to be any point. After all, we only have a couple of years at the most left in this time frame.”
Anna took my hand and sq
ueezed it, obviously saddened by the reminder.
“Oh no, I’m really sorry Anna. I wasn’t thinking straight. I have a lot on my mind.”
Anna said, “Don’t worry about it. Is that why you wanted to see us?”
“Yes. I’ve been approached by someone asking for our help.” She paused as if trying to find the right words to explain.
I said, “Well you told me not to tell anyone at Section about this, so it must have something to do with the programme.”
Gemma nodded and continued, “I’ve been approached by an Earthsong member who was taken off the programme and consequently missed the three hundred year jump. He wants to meet with you.”
Slightly perturbed at Gemma wanting me to meet with a rebel Jumper, Anna said, “Won’t that be dangerous? Don’t they want you all dead?”
Gemma ignored Anna’s questions and spoke very quietly, avoiding eye contact with both Anna and myself.
“There’s something I should have told you ages ago … some of this is my fault,” she admitted. “Steve, remember how the rebels found out about David surviving the super-virus, and the vaccination, and how you were going to jump to the future and bring him back to natural time?” I nodded, wondering what she was going to say next and hoping she wasn’t going to ‘drop me in it’ with Anna. Gemma continued, “Section never discovered how Earthsong got that information.”
“No, my first assignment was to identify the information leak. I didn’t do very well, I’m afraid,” I said, remembering the lengths to which I had gone to find the informant, and to impress C.
Anna was looking puzzled, “There are lots of Davids in the world; you can’t possibly be referring to my brother.”
I didn’t want to lie to her so I said, “Erm … yea.”
She looked shocked, but let Gemma continue, “I told Graham everything. I didn’t mean to cause trouble. No one even knew about any rebel faction, let alone that he was the leader. I thought I could trust another Jumper.”
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