by Alex Scarrow
‘That is a sensible plan, Liam.’ Bob pulled off a smile. ‘Very good.’
Liam looked up at him. ‘Seriously? Did you just patronize me?’
Bob reached out a giant hand and patted him on the head. ‘Yes, Liam. You are a very clever doggy. There. There. You can have a bone.’
Liam grabbed at his thumb and tried twisting it. ‘Oh, joy of joys. You and Becks are just so damned hilarious now you’ve discovered your funny bones.’
Bob raised his thick brows hopefully. ‘Was I successful in being amusing this time, Liam?’
Liam sucked air through his teeth. ‘More kind of annoying actually.’
Bob’s shoulders slumped ever so slightly.
‘Hey, Bob …’ He patted the support unit. ‘Don’t get all sulky on me, big fella. You’re a killing machine, not a comedian.’
Before them, the air began to shimmer. ‘Aha … and here’s our bus home.’
CHAPTER 45
2070, Rocky Mountains
Maddy stumbled through the still and silent forest. The only sound was her own laboured breathing, her feet cracking dead-wood twigs and crunching the husks of dropped cones. Beside her, Becks strode heavily; every now and then she felt the reassuring grasp of the support unit, holding her arm to steady her.
And now there’s just the two of us. Just us.
She tried to count how many times in her short fake life she’d dealt with this … with loss. First there’d been Foster. Then there was that loss of another kind, the loss of who she thought she was. Bereavement in a way. Then there’d been Sal. Her friend; more than that, she’d felt as close to her as if she’d been family, as if she’d been her sister. Along with Liam, the three of them had all shared that loss of innocence together, become orphans from the lives they’d all thought they’d once had. Then Adam. Even the support units: both of them had kind of ‘died’ once already.
Now it was Rashim’s turn. And there’d be no coming back from the dead for him.
She felt listless and blank. Ready to slump down right now into this cursed dust and dirt and give up.
Again. How many times had she felt like doing that? Giving up? And how many times had she been forced to pick herself up again and pretend to be strong, pretend to know what had to be done next, as if she had some already thought-through strategy in her head?
‘I can’t …’ she gasped. ‘I can’t go on …’
‘We must keep going, Maddy.’
She shook her head. ‘We’re not even going to find him. We’re not going to find Waldstein alive.’
‘There is not much further to go.’
Her legs gave up and buckled beneath her and she slumped untidily to the ground.
‘Get up, Maddy.’
‘You know what?’ She shook her head. ‘I’m done. I’m finished.’
Becks knelt down beside her. ‘This is unacceptable, Maddy.’
‘Unacceptable?’ Maddy looked at her and laughed wearily. ‘So, you’re the one in charge now, huh?’
‘Your judgement is currently impaired.’ Becks gave her a scolding frown. ‘You are experiencing emotional trauma. There is no time for feeling grief. We must continue.’
‘What the hell do you know about feeling anything?!’
Becks’s eyes narrowed. ‘I have changed, Maddy. My AI has developed. I have been able to experience emotions for some time. You must be aware of this?’ She cocked her head. ‘I also liked Rashim.’
Fresh tears began to spill down and streak the dirt on Maddy’s cheeks. ‘You liked him?’
She nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘That’s complete rubbish.’ She laughed again, a little spitefully. ‘You can’t even tell if you like ice cream. Not wanting to sound harsh here, but you’re just a frikkin’ machine in a girl suit.’
‘I am much more than that.’ She leaned closer to Maddy. ‘Look at me.’
Maddy did.
‘Bob and I have become more than our programming. We will never be as incapacitated by emotion as a real person, as you … but we can feel attachment, and we can feel loss.’
‘Yeah … right.’
‘Maddy, listen to me –’ her voice softened – ‘I believe I can call you my friend.’
Friend? Maddy felt an urge to slap her. ‘You think you know what that frikkin’ word actually means?’
‘I do. I follow your orders because –’
‘Because you have to! Because those stupid little lines of code in your head –’
‘No. Because I trust you.’
Maddy snorted derisively.
‘You and I have been through much. I have grown in this time. I once followed orders because my mission parameters obligated me to. Now I follow you because … you are my friend.’
She grasped Maddy’s hand. ‘You will achieve nothing by giving up. You will die here if you do not continue. And I’d be without you. Alone.’
‘I’ve achieved nothing anyway. All I’ve done is screw things up … time after time.’
‘Liam is seeking answers with Bob. And we will seek answers from Waldstein. Then we will return and we will exchange information. Then …’ Becks smiled. ‘Then your mission will be complete. Maybe you will be free.’
‘Free?’
‘Free to give up. Free to go where you wish.’ She squeezed her hand gently. ‘Free to live. Perhaps free to love someone?’
Maddy shook her head and sighed. ‘That’s hilarious. Where is this coming from anyway?’
‘I am not human, but I am almost human. I understand what compels you is a need for answers.’ She nodded at the trees ahead of them. ‘We are just a few miles away. And there is a high probability that that is where you will find those.’ She stood up, tugging at Maddy’s hand. ‘But you will die here not knowing anything if we do not proceed any further.’
‘I’m tired.’
‘Then, if it is necessary, I will carry you.’
Maddy closed her eyes.
‘Your answers lie just a few more miles in this direction,’ continued Becks. ‘We have walked too far to stop now.’
‘OK.’ Maddy sucked in a deep breath. ‘OK … you win.’
Maddy stared down at her dust-covered feet, dragging them wearily and kicking up clouds behind her. Her mouth was dry, clogged by the powder, and the dead forest seemed to be endless. They’d been walking for hours now – in fact, most of the day. Through the spidery branches she could see the sun was beginning to nestle among distant wintry peaks. A few miles away? That’s what Becks had assured her. Either she was just as lost as Maddy, or that had been her ham-fisted way of getting her back on her feet.
She was beginning to suspect they’d drifted off course and had been heading in the wrong direction, perhaps even walked right past the entrance to this super-secret campus.
Then it seemed to appear out of nowhere, out of the fading light – the cross-hatched mesh of a chain-linked perimeter fence.
‘There’s a fence!’
‘I see it, Maddy.’
Maddy reached out and rattled it with her hand. The wire vibrated either side of them, uphill and downhill.
‘That was foolish,’ said Becks. ‘It might have been electrified.’
‘Oh yeah.’ She almost face-palmed herself. ‘Well, I guess it’s not … so there’s that.’ She looked along the wire. ‘Think this might be it?’
‘It must be.’
‘Do we follow the fence up or down … or shall we try to climb over?’ She looked up; the fence was nine or ten feet high and topped with loops of razor wire. Maybe not over, then.
‘Downhill,’ replied Becks.
‘What makes you so sure?’
‘Look.’ Becks pointed a finger.
Maddy followed the direction she was pointing. Downhill of them, she could make out the faint glow of a solitary light winking as endless bare branches between them shifted and swayed.
A light. There’s power. Someone’s home.
They made their way down the sloping ground
, stepping over exposed roots, ducking beneath low branches and weaving between the uniform, straight trunks of necrotic wood, keeping the perimeter fence to their right.
Finally, as the last glow of light in the dusk sky was threatening to give out on them, they emerged from the forest on to open ground. Before the virus, this could have been a well-tended, beautifully manicured corporate lawn. Now it was bare dirt and dust. Over to the right, the perimeter fence ended with a guard tower, and a sign – W.G. SYSTEMS DENVER RESEARCH CAMPUS – mounted on a polished granite plinth. The light they’d seen through the trees was a single spotlight aimed at the plinth. Before it, a bare flower bed was surrounded by artfully placed white-painted boulders and rocks. And, beyond that, a driveway led up to a security hut. The vehicle barrier was in the down position, resolutely blocking the road.
The security hut looked deserted. The guard tower too. Through the chain-link fence she could see a number of chrome-and-glass buildings nestling against the steep hillside, more barren corporate flower beds and bald lawns, and arrowed signposts indicating the way to various department buildings.
‘It looks like nobody’s home,’ she said. It appeared the solitary spotlight had been a false promise. Something left on and running from an emergency generator.
Then she noticed movement: a lone figure standing in the shadowed doorway of the security hut. A figure wrapped up in a thick navy-blue anorak with the hood pulled up. The figure emerged, took several steps out beyond the vehicle barrier and turned to face their way.
‘We should be cautious,’ said Becks as they slowly crossed the open ground towards the guard hut. She glanced up at the tower. ‘There may be some automated defensive measures in place.’
‘We were invited here,’ said Maddy. ‘We’ll just tell him we’re expected.’
They approached the lone figure standing out front slowly, as non-threateningly as they could. A dozen yards short of him they came to a stop. The guard studied them silently for a full minute, his face lost in the shadows of his hood, his breath spilling out in regular, rhythmic clouds of vapour. The evening was getting cold, fast. Finally, he took a single step towards them, then reached up with gloved hands and tugged at the zip tucked just below his jaw.
‘Perimeter motion detectors picked the pair of you up half an hour ago,’ the man said. He reached for his hood and pulled it back, revealing a lean, wrinkled face, dark, deep eyes set beneath snow-white bushy eyebrows, and a chin and wattled jawline feathered with the white fuzz of an unwanted beard.
Maddy gasped. ‘My God,’ she whispered. ‘Foster? Is that you?’
‘I’ve been waiting out here too long,’ he said, thumping his hands briskly together to warm them up. He smiled disarmingly and took several cautious steps towards them, then offered a gloved hand to Maddy.
‘Welcome home, Maddy.’
‘You …?’ She frowned, utterly confused at the sight of Foster standing plain as day in front of her. ‘But you … you died! I saw them … I saw those support units kill you!’
His hand remained extended towards her. ‘You saw them kill a clone.’
‘Foster?’ She looked at that familiar face. ‘I … I don’t understand how …’
He smiled. ‘My name’s Roald Waldstein.’
‘You … you were Waldstein all along?!’
‘No … not exactly. I’ll explain later. Come on, we should go inside,’ he said. ‘It’s getting cold out here.’
CHAPTER 46
1890, London
Liam looked up from the brick floor of the dungeon, hoping to see Maddy, Rashim and Becks looking down at him. But there was no one here. A moment later, Bob thudded down to the ground beside him with a whuff of expelled breath.
The portal collapsed behind them both.
Bob looked at him. ‘Maddy has not returned yet?’
Liam looked around. He had been hoping to see Maddy’s and Rashim’s legs dangling over the side of their hammocks, catching up on some post-mission napping. Or slouched in the armchairs round their table, enjoying some freshly brewed coffee. But no – they were definitely alone. Just the steadfast glow of the computer screens and the soft chug of the distant Victorian generator.
He got up and headed over to the computer table. ‘We’re back.’
> Welcome home, Liam.
‘Has Maddy been back since we went?’ Liam was still holding on to the hope that they might have returned, then decided to go out for a meat pie or an iced bun or something.
> Sorry, Liam. I have not heard from Maddy yet.
‘Not even a message?’
> There has been no communication.
‘Can we get a message to her?’
> I can send a tachyon signal forward, but I do not know precisely where to aim the signal.
‘Well …’ He stroked his chin. ‘Can’t we just aim it roughly at New York?’
> Yes, but it will be a broad-sweep signal. There is some risk involved in doing that. But also when?
‘Well … after their arrival. Directly after their arrival there. And aim it right at our Williamsburg archway. That’s where they were going, right?’
> Yes, Liam, that is where Maddy went. And what is the message?
‘All right, let me think … umm … OK, send this: “Have returned to base. Can confirm second beam is located beneath city. Going back to investigate.”’
> I will send this immediately, Liam.
‘Thank you, computer-Bob.’
Bob joined him. ‘Computer-Bob, we believe the second transmitter is located somewhere in the bedrock platform beneath the temple in the city of Jerusalem. Liam was able to penetrate the temple’s security measures and scout beneath the building.’
> That is good. Do you have coordinates?
Liam shook his head. ‘No … we don’t. I got down beneath the building. All right – it’s hard to say exactly where it was,’ he said. ‘I mean, I went down some steps, some more steps, then a cave, then a passage … then …’ He looked at Bob, then at the webcam on the desk. ‘That isn’t helping much, is it?’
> Not really, Liam. That is not very precise.
‘The thing is I know it’s somewhere beneath the temple building, maybe even beneath the compound; it’s all tunnels and catacombs and so on. I suspect the whole of that rocky base is like a giant Swiss cheese. But I’m telling you it’s right down there for sure.’
‘Recommendation,’ said Bob. ‘We deploy an array of density scans beneath the temple.’
‘Hey!’ said Liam. ‘That was my idea!’
‘Of course it was.’ Bob acknowledged that with a smile. ‘I am elaborating on it. I recommend a ten-foot gap between each scan location. If we pick up a number of neighbouring scan locations that are registering as zero density, then it is possible we will have identified a large internal void.’
> Agreed.
‘In that case, I suggest we should start that search directly beneath the temple building first, then expand it out from there,’ said Liam. ‘I’m pretty sure it was right beneath the actual building. I’m sure I couldn’t have strayed too far; I was only down below for about twenty minutes. I couldn’t have wandered too far … and most of it was down.’
Bob nodded. ‘That is a viable plan. We should centre the search pattern on the area beneath the temple. Start there and spread outwards.’
Liam huffed and looked up at him again. ‘I just said that as well!’
‘I am confirming the idea is a sound one.’
‘You know what? You’re going the right way about getting a smacked arse.’
> I will proceed with that search pattern immediately.
‘Good,’ Liam said, nodding. ‘How long will that take?’
> .!..
‘What’s that supposed to mean, computer-Bob?’
> I have a question for you, Liam.
‘Uh … all right. Ask away.’
> How long is a piece of string?
‘Huh? What? Why are you asking …?’
Bob smiled. ‘Computer-Bob has just told a funny joke. We can all do this now. Our data has been shared.’
> Hahaha.
> :p
Liam rolled his eyes. ‘Oh aye, I get it … My stupid question deserves an equally stupid question back? The pair of you fellas are just such a hoot.’ He sighed. ‘So, I guess it’s going to take however long it takes. Right?’
> Correct. I cannot tell you how long searching for something will take. I will of course notify you as soon as I have detected a large interior space.
‘All right … all right. Don’t get yer knickers in a twist.’
CHAPTER 47
2070, W.G. Systems
Denver Research Campus
‘It’s just me living at this facility now,’ said Waldstein. His walk was the slow and laboured shuffle of an old and infirm man. ‘I let the last of my employees go home to their families three weeks ago. It’s just me now, rattling around here like a pea in a large tin.’
‘You let them go just before the K-N outbreak,’ said Maddy. ‘You knew exactly when it was coming, didn’t you?’
He led them through a rotating glass door that looked like it would normally be powered up and triggered by motion sensors into the foyer of a building. Before them was an unmanned reception desk with the W.G. Systems logo slanting across its dark marble top. Their footsteps clacked noisily across a shiny, slate-tile floor, echoing around the deserted, cavernous interior.
‘Yes, yes, of course I knew it was coming. I knew to the precise day when this was going to come our way. I’ve known that exact date for the last twenty-six years.’
She did the maths quickly in her head. ‘You’ve known since 2044?’ The year rang a bell with her and she gasped. ‘You knew then?’
‘Yes,’ he replied, seeing her eyes suddenly widen. ‘I’ve known since my very first practical demonstration of time displacement.’
