Cloud Field

by A M Russell

  ‘Just trust me. You are on our team. I’m going to need your knowledge and expertise. And right now, we have to get out this rabbit warren in one piece.’

  We came out of the cell. Then the three of us sneaked back the way we had come. Oliver was in front checking every corner. Jules and I moved quickly and smoothly behind him. Jules was very light on his feet. He seemed to have a natural tendency to anticipate the turns, and didn’t trip or pull the wrong way. I glanced back. He was still screwing his eyes up in an attempt to pull things into focus.

  Then we were back in that brightly lit white corridor.

  ‘Oh shit!’ Oliver turned and pushed left into one of the side rooms. We piled in as quickly as possible after him. He had seen tight little knot of men rounding the corner up ahead.

  ‘It’s Hanson!’ Oliver hissed, ‘What are we going to do about him?’

  ‘He wasn’t with us.’ said Jules, ‘when they took us. I really don’t know where he was.’

  ‘Listen Jules.’ I said quickly, ‘we need to know if we should take Hanson with us or not. Things seem a little err…. Foggy on that issue.’

  ‘He’s on the payroll of the Big Boss.’ said Jules, ‘not the harmless people from the Uni.; some medical research company…. They offered me some work on the side… I turned them down. That’s how I know.’

  ‘Oliver?’

  ‘It might mean almost anything.’ Oliver shifted round to get a better look through the small window into the corridor. ‘He’s gone into that other room.’

  ‘The one the few bits of kit were in?’

  Oliver nodded. He was perfectly still. For a few minutes everyone waited barely breathing.

  ‘He’s out.’ Oliver glanced at me. I nodded. We all went into the corridor to confront Hanson.

  Everyone just stood. Neutral body language. Watching; reading the other. Hanson didn’t look surprised. In fact he seemed pleased.

  ‘So there you all are at last!’ he assumed a relaxed stance. I had to admire the sheer impressiveness of his confidence.

  ‘You knew we were here?’ I could feel the calm tones begin to constrict in my throat.

  ‘This place is full of different time zones. It’s quite an amazing feat for all the work that has been devoted to its inception. The labs are quite exceptional.’

  ‘I’m sorry.’ said Oliver, with a curiously flat tone. ‘But are you out of your mind?’

  ‘What?’ he gave an easy grin and twirled a pencil in his fingers. One of those irritating things that people like to do, who think they are in control of a situation.

  He moved at a relaxed pace towards a door that was nearer to the first white lab that we found. ‘Just come and see,’ he said, ‘there is nothing like a practical demonstration of the thing in actual fact. That will convince anyone.’

  We all looked at each other and followed him. For now we were playing along. But I was already getting a severe case of the prickly scalp. The best sign of something amiss in big, unpleasant, and often scary ways. We entered another lab; this was quite different from the others. The automatic lights came on in series and a console lit up. We were caught. Either Hanson was completely cuckoo; or we had a bigger problem on our hands than anyone had imagined.

  Five minutes of my life later, and I saw something from a new angle. And I absolutely did not like it:- I had sat Jules down in a chair, and whispered to him that he ought to be ready to run at a moment’s notice. Oliver stood looking so scary I was glad he was with me. He stood a little to one side with the safety off the short rifle. I stood next to Hanson. He settled himself in one of those luxury office chairs in front of a bank of screens. Under his hands the whole thing came alive and lit up. I could see on one screen what appeared to be a map, with a snapshot of the area in real time, with coloured shapes representing the people.

  'The problem with the viewer at Main was that it couldn't replicate the conditions out here in the field to do adequate projections of the timeline.'

  I didn't quite get it but nodded for him to continue.

  Hanson pressed some buttons, and slid a lever across. The display spread out across three screens. It had little puppet shapes of people on a set of undulating lines. Moving a cursor over the little manikins enlarged the image. It animated into whatever activity it was supposed to represent. I spite of the gravity of fear that sucked at me like the tide on shingle I asked Hanson to demonstrate what this thing did.

  'Whatever you want!'

  'More specifically, I’d like to know… does it change anything?’

  ‘Oh? No. not really; the observable conditions change that’s all. Of course people make different decisions based on those things. So I suppose you could affect the outcome.’ Hanson was on a roll, ‘Naturally, the inter-splicing of the various time levels in this geographic location makes the viewer more accurate. You, for example. You have experienced what? Several days? A few hours? Maybe longer than that? But you arrived at this point in the same way each time. The loop can be bigger or smaller. But the point of arrival is the same.’

  I glanced at Oliver and moistened my lips, ‘Hanson? Just tell me one thing. When did you arrive?’

  ‘Yesterday. By the rail transport.’ He turned to me with his hand still on the computer mouse. ‘I think that you’ve been here a little while haven’t you? It happens. But never mind. Everyone will meet in the dining hall later. An announcement is about to be made.’

  ‘Hanson… Sir. There’s no one else here from the team. Just us. That’s all.’

  He turned away from me muttered something about “visual echoes”, and then pointed at the screen again. A little doll shaped cut-out moved like a clockwork toy. It marched to a little car and got in, and as Hanson clicked a name appeared. ‘That’s me. You see? Yesterday.’

  I was quite bewildered. But I knew that if we didn’t convince him that things weren’t as he believed them to be, we would have to leave them behind. I looked to Oliver: ‘Two more minutes. No more.’ was all he said.

  I tried a different tack; ‘What happened to the sled when you were out in the snow?’

  ‘The sled? Oh! That old thing! That was at least twenty turns ago. I came straight here this time. Saved all that tedious messing about. It just is so much easier. You know,’ he turned to me again; ‘you really ought to try it. Of course I know why you appeared; it was an echo from the very last attempt to find that chemical compound. But there’s no need now. I’m only telling you this because of protocol you understand. It helps people to be polite to the echoes. Everyone’s subconscious gets so confused about who their friends are otherwise. It makes for a difficult working environment.’

  ‘This meeting…’ I said cautiously, ‘who is supposed to be at it. All our team?’

  ‘Yes. Of course. All fresh and new, clean uniforms that sort of thing. It’s a celebration.’

  ‘So, just so you can continue to be polite…. tell me the names of all the people who are to be there…. civilians that is.’

  ‘Well… there is Me of course; then…. The white coat guys…. Seven of them I believe. The rest are back at Main Base with George, you know him always has something to go and look up! Then there’s…. well, the security People. And Mr Alexander. Some others may be along later. Not your lot though.’

  ‘So not Janey, or James, or Oliver?’

  ‘I think not. They are all back at Main. Half of them have been debriefed already.’

  ‘What about Marcia? Or Jared?’

  ‘Not them. I know they are not on the guest list.’

  ‘Ok. So tell me are any of the people you and I were on the same expedition with, going to be here?’

  Hanson thought for a moment, tapping the pencil on the desk as he did so; ‘No. not now. As I said they’ve all be debriefed.’ He smiled at me in a slightly condescending way then. I suppose that only my latent sense of respect for authority kept me from grabbing him by the throat. Besides, when someone clearly thinks that you are a figment of their imagination, there�
�s not a whole lot you can do to convince them of the truth.

  ‘Times up.’ Oliver moved to emphasise the point.

  ‘Just a minute.’ I said, then to Hanson, ‘make this thing show the present. This room and the corridors outside.’

  ‘Sure…’ he shifted the scene about and then zoomed in.

  ‘Ok. Jules!’ I ordered, ‘time to go.’

  ‘What’s the problem?’ drawled Hanson, ‘You are all back at Main.’

  ‘He told you that did he?’ Oliver was pointing the gun at Hanson.

  ‘Don’t do it!’ said Jules blinking and pointing at the screen, ‘It’s what he wants!’

  The little manikins that represented us three were flashing on and off and a light red colour. Others nudged down the corridor. Various hues from yellow to green; and some blues and purples. Hanson was a steady orange.

  ‘Right!’ I said to our two, ‘I don’t know what this means. But I bet it is very bad….’

  Hanson smiled and said: ‘There is nothing you can do to stop it. It’s all inevitable.’

  Oliver lowered the gun and turned back to the door.

  Jules moved towards me. We watched horrified by the steady approach of the figures on the screen.

  ‘You might as well give up, it really is the…’ Hanson was silenced by Jules grabbing him by the shoulder and doing some sort of weird movement with his hands.

  ‘What the?’ Oliver turned towards the door as we heard noises in the corridor outside.

  ‘Tell me you didn’t kill him.’ I said to Jules.

  ‘Self-discipline Milnes. I just rendered him unconscious.’

  ‘Davey!’ said Oliver, ‘We need to be ready!’

  I slung the gun round from my shoulder.

  ‘Please,’ said Jules, ‘Let me....’ He went to the door.

  ‘Do No Harm.’ He said and slipped straight through it before we had chance to stop him.

  Oliver poked the barrel through expecting a volley of shots at least.

  Jules stood with five men in crumpled heaps on the floor.

  ‘I had training.’ He said, ‘I have a belt. But not on me right now.’

  I looked back at Hanson slumped in the chair. ‘I wish you’d told me this before.’

  ‘You never asked.’ We hurried down towards the big lab.

  ‘Can you see properly now?’ I whispered.

  ‘Not really.’ He blinked a few times then, ‘I hope you won’t tell the psych. girl. Her advice was useful after all.’

  ‘You think we can get back.’

  ‘Of course we can.’

  ‘Come on Milnes.’ said Oliver, then a moment later, ‘Come on. We really need to run right now!’

  We skidded through the double doors like puppies after a ball. Soldiers were streaming out of two other smaller doors.

  ‘Left a bit! Left a bit!’ I yelled.

  We dived for the gap; the tunnel where we had first come into the huge hangar. Oliver scraped it. Jules and I shot through with no trouble. The tunnel widened out and we carried on running full pelt, not looking back. Not even to see if the narrow constriction had slowed them up.

  It was a few minutes to the turn; then along another forgotten gallery into a drop and round a curve. We all half jumped down. Normally we would be stepping carefully but terror goaded us.

  ‘Where’s the lever?’

  ‘There!’ Oliver pulled on it with all his might. It suddenly lurched open

  ‘We’ve got to shut the door.’ I pushed Jules through. Oliver followed. I turned. I could see the movement of bodies fast approaching. The weight of the door would hole them for a long time if we could get it shut. I aimed and fired. In this small space the noise was deafening. Rocks and dust fell, but the lever was still intact.

  ‘Break the connector above!’ Oliver said

  I gave him the gun, took a leap at it and missed. Three steps back; and I sprang quickly forwards and leapt as high as I could. I was dangling. My weight was bending the connector.

  ‘Pull me! Do it now!’ Jules and Oliver grabbed my legs and dragged their combined weight down. The connector screamed in a creaking whine, and then suddenly gave out. They thudded backwards and scrambled through the door. It was swinging closed too fast. I could barely see so I dived towards the dimly lit gap. Knifelike protrusions of rock sliced into my sleeve as I forced my way through.

  I crashed into the two of them. My right arm spiked with excruciating pain as the heavy door seated into the corridor wall and then squeezed shut.

  I got up as quickly as possible and staggered sideways. Oliver grabbed me and pulled me down wards again. The swirling in my head stopped a few seconds later. I saw bright drops of red.

  ‘It’s you right upper arm.’ said Jules, ‘It’s cut up.’

  ‘Is it bleeding fast?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Let’s go then.’

  We all clambered to our feet.

  ‘We’ve got those shots in the case.’ Oliver said as we started to move.

  ‘Just make sure you give it me before I pass out.’ I said.

  About fifty yards ahead we could see daylight.

  ‘I think we made it.’ Oliver looked at me again, ‘Time to hitch a ride.’

  We got to a Land rover. And Oliver jumped straight in the driving seat.

  ‘What now? You can’t start this that easily.’ I said as the engine roared into life. ‘Oh… I guess you can.’

  ‘Hop aboard. I always think ahead.’

  ‘It’s true.’ said Jules, ‘He does.’

  ‘Are they behind us?’ I asked.

  ‘No sign as yet.’ said Jules. ‘Oliver better confirm it.’

  ‘No yet.’ Oliver checked the mirror. Then we roared off down the jungle track.

  I slid into the back seat. I saw the sunlight and the sky. And some clouds gathering as if it would rain later. The air was tense.

  ‘Milnes!’ Oliver was trying to snap my attention back into the present. ‘We need directions.’

  I reeled off the map inside of my mind: ‘Left at the next fork; then take a right at the T-junction. There is a long smooth curve taking the left. Out of the trees then, to an exposed area; straight across that; then into a cut between rocks. About half a mile down and we come out about 300 yards from the tunnels. We can get down the right hand one, but the left will take us to the same place eventually. Underground…. Keep going left; at every junction… always left. We’ve got five miles to go….. Then there should be a way back to the place taking us near to where we first came in.

  ‘Temperature will be what Milnes?’

  ‘Ok as we are until we get within fifty feet of the exit doors.’

  ‘The actual temperature Davey!’

  ‘Huh? It is five degrees within a hundred yards of the train tracks. The whole thing is at minus ten.’

  The fresh air was slapping my face and making me feel queasy. I sank onto the floor of the Landy.

  ‘We will stop in the tunnels and kit up as soon as we can.’ Oliver handed his gun back to Jules. ‘Let Milnes Shoot it. You get the shot out of the med kit. And try to stick something on his arm!’

  To give Jules credit he did a great job on me while we were travelling at high speed down a dusty track over bumps and ruts. He got the needle out, and jabbed it in to the arm near where I’d hurt the thing. I didn’t feel anything, perhaps because it hurt so badly already. He had it strapped up tight two minutes after that.

  ‘Is it working?’ he asked eyes watering.

  ‘Yeah. How’s the vision?’

  ‘Can’t see a bloody thing. It’s too bright out here. It’s not helping.’

  Oliver slowed as we entered the open space towards the rocky cut. Less than ten minutes later we were heading for the underground tunnel entrance.

  ‘Right or left?’ he said.

  ‘Right.’ I said.

  ‘I don’t know,’ said Oliver, ‘I have a feeling we ought to take the left.’

  ‘You’re driving.’ I said a
nd bent over as the pain started coursing through my body.

  ‘How much did you give me?’ I asked Jules.

  ‘Short dose. Ten minutes in, just takes the edge off. You won’t be sleepy.’

  ‘Damn right! Not the George special then?’

  ‘I thought we might save that for when we get to camp tonight.’

  ‘Your optimism is cheering.’ I said gasping in breaths, ‘Oh crap… it fucking hurts!’

  ‘Bad Language too. What would your mother say?’

  ‘Shut up Jules…. Don’t add guilt to the mix. She’s only getting the edited version of this escapade!’

  ‘I really like you Milnes. You are such a mass of contradictions.’

  ‘You said you’d talked to the psych. girl?’ I jabbered now just to take my mind off it. As we entered the tunnels I felt the temperature drop to cool and clear. The light level helped the pain too. Jules touched my left hand.

  ‘She’s such an angel,’ he said, ‘the things she said. It stopped me going mad. The time in the cells, I almost wanted to die. But I remembered one little thing… and then another, and then another. And I thought about those things for hours.’

  ‘Why did they move you?’

  ‘Just after you and Jared appeared. They gave me something to eat and drink. I felt relaxed. There was a bed. I just slept then. Then you came.’

  In the arc of Oliver’s head lights I could see some faint reflected mineral deposits. We were on the left track. It twisted and turned quite a lot, but always going steadily downwards. After about ten minutes, Oliver pulled into to a little sandy space. It was dark apart from our head lights reflecting on some rock deposits.

  ‘Let’s take a piss,’ said Oliver, ‘then suit up.’

  ‘Full kit?’

  ‘Yes. Jules?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘You’re going to have to wear Jared’s suit.’ Oliver sounded pained, ‘but I think of all people, he would have liked to save your life on the ice with it.’

  ‘Davey?’ asked Jules, ‘I can help you get yours on.’

  ‘Yes… I mean of course…’ I was trying to get a handle on the pain. At least taking a leak was fairly easy. No more than the usual awkwardness.