Changing Yesterday

by Sean McMullen

  ‘Edwards, get him into the sea and clean up that mess,’ said Harris.

  ‘Edwards has been charged, assessed and executed,’ said Liore from behind him.

  Harris managed to get the gun out of his belt, but not before Liore’s foot connected with his jaw. As she seized his wrist he began firing, but she twisted around under his arm, bending it back and sweeping his right foot from under him with her heel. As Harris fell, Liore smashed the hand holding the gun down onto the deck, so that he dropped it. The gun was in her hand as they stood up.

  ‘I only regret that I have but one life to give for my king,’ said Harris as he raised his hands.

  Liore flung the gun over the side, then warily closed on Harris.

  ‘Captain Harris, what a hero you were destined to become,’ said Liore. ‘Terrier Harris, scourge of the huns. If only they knew.’

  Harris lashed out with a kick to her head, but Liore did a pivot-dodge and brushed the kick past harmlessly. Harris threw several more kicks, but Liore managed to dodge them all.

  ‘I know all about you, Terrier Harris. I know that you spent time in Paris, and there you learned savate, French foot boxing. You can kick as readily as other men can punch, and your left hand has been hardened like an iron club.’

  ‘What traitor told you all that?’ asked Harris.

  ‘I am from a century in the future, Harris. I have read your biography, there is even a Harris Gymnasium at the Imperial War Academy. In that gymnasium I learned UBS, Unified British Style. That makes me a very dangerous girl indeed.’

  ‘Girl?’ gasped Harris.

  ‘Girl, Captain Harris. Thanks to the Century War that you started, even girls from good families get to kill people. I have been training since the age of five, and I am not yet sixteen. You created me. Not a pretty sight, am I?’

  Liore dropped and swung a leg out to trip Harris, but Harris skipped over her foot and lashed a kick at her head. Liore brushed the kick past and dropped onto her back. Harris closed in for the kill, not knowing that UBS taught people to fight on their backs. Liore’s foot caught his next kick, then her other foot slammed into a pressure point just above his knee. Harris dropped, but was back on his feet in an instant, a knife drawn from his boot. He and Liore faced off again.

  ‘Captain Peter Harris, I am Battle Commander Liore of the Imperial War Academy operational crews,’ declared Liore. ‘The rank of Battle Commander allows me to charge, assess and execute any British citizen who endangers the empire of his majesty King Charles the Third by an act of treason.’

  ‘Just try to execute me, you mad bitch.’

  ‘Actually I could have, several times over, but I am stepping outside the regulations to indulge myself and really hurt you first. I like hurting people that I hate. You have trashed the world, allowed Britain to be occupied, and caused six billion deaths. You could have me on a charge for killing you slowly, but I have a feeling you will not tell anyone.’

  Harris feinted a low kick, then lunged at Liore with his left hand. He caught her in the ribs a moment before her fist swept up from a block to backhand him across the temple. On the return swing she closed with him, and her elbow caught him across the mouth, smashing teeth and dislocating his jaw, yet Harris rolled backwards as Liore locked his left arm and tried to snap the elbow.

  Harris now swept Liore’s foot, and although she rolled as she came down on the deck, breaking her fall, she did not quite avoid Harris’s knife. Thinking he had injured her seriously, Harris now stabbed down, but Liore twisted aside and the blade plunged into the well-scrubbed wood of the deck and stuck fast. Harris made the mistake of trying to draw the knife out of the deck, and lingered just long enough for Liore to land a kick on his left elbow, snapping it. The Lionheart seemed immune to pain as he bounced to his feet again, but Liore tangled her legs in his and slammed him back down on the deck. Harris was rolled onto his stomach, and felt his legs locked together as Liore pressed down on him. She had one hand on his jaw and another on the back of his head.

  ‘I believe you know what comes next,’ said Liore, who then snapped his neck.

  The pain from a broken rib and several cuts and bruises was beginning to make itself felt as Liore heaved Harris and the purser over the side to join Edwards in the Red Sea.

  While the fight at the stern of the ship had been taking place, Daniel and Madeline had been crouched behind their beds with their pistols trained on the cabin door. By now they were almost wishing for someone to burst in to relieve the boredom.

  ‘Daniel, can I ask a question?’ asked Madeline.

  ‘You just have,’ replied Daniel, who was fairly sure that it would be something intensely personal.

  ‘Where does Liore come from, and where did she get those incredible inventions?’

  ‘She comes from Melbourne, and as for the radiocomms and weapon, see here.’

  Daniel flipped a coin across to Madeline.

  ‘It’s just a shilling,’ she said.

  ‘It’s the king’s shilling. It was given to me when I entered Liore’s squad.’

  Madeline looked more closely at the coin.

  ‘CHARLES III REX . . . 1997?’ she gasped.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘But – but that’s ninety-six years in the future.’

  ‘Liore is from the future, too. So are her radiocomms and weapon.’

  Madeline looked up from the coin to Daniel and frowned sceptically.

  ‘People cannot travel through time,’ she said bluntly.

  ‘We are all travelling into the future,’ said Daniel, ‘but in Liore’s future the scientists devised a machine to fling people and weapons backwards through time. She broke into their laboratory with some very brave cadets, intending to travel back to this year to stop something terrible called the Century War. All but Liore and a youth named Fox were killed in the fighting.’

  Madeline thought about this, glanced doubtfully at the shilling, then tried to bend it.

  ‘Say, just say, you’re speaking the truth: how does, how will this war start?’

  ‘Federal parliament was to be bombed when it opened last May. We stopped that. Liore also saved the crown prince from assassination in Albury.’

  ‘I read in the newspapers about a railway wagon blowing up.’

  ‘That was it. Either event would have triggered the Century War between Britain and Germany.’

  ‘So it won’t happen?’

  ‘Liore is from the future, so she gets new memories of the future when history changes. She now remembers her own weapon being used to start the war. The Lionhearts on the Millennium use it to attack the entire German fleet.’

  Madeline flipped the shilling back to Daniel.

  ‘I don’t believe any of that, but nothing else makes sense, so I might have to. I –’

  Daniel held up his hand for silence as the radiocomm in his pocket vibrated. He pressed a green stud to accept the connection.

  ‘Liore?’ he asked.

  ‘Approaching door, don’t shoot,’ said Liore from the unit.

  Daniel opened the door just as Liore arrived. There was blood down her left side.

  ‘About shirt, sorry,’ she said.

  ‘The Lionhearts did this to you?’ whispered Madeline as Daniel closed the door and locked it.

  ‘To Lionhearts, did worse.’

  ‘You’re bleeding,’ said Daniel.

  ‘Do assessment, then repairs,’ said Liore, looking straight at Daniel.

  ‘Me?’ quavered Daniel.

  ‘Your sewing, high standard, was told, by Emily.’

  ‘I’ll need to soak some thread and a needle in iodine solution,’ said Madeline.

  ‘The infirmary has iodine,’ said Daniel.

  ‘That’s where I stole this while visiting you,’ said Madeline, holding up a little bottle. ‘Soldiers do tend to get injured.’

  Daniel was about to insist that Madeline do the sewing when a scene flashed through his mind, a scene from only four months past, although it seem
ed like a lifetime ago. Liore, lying wounded on a packing case. Barry arriving with a few stolen things that might be useful. Emily boiling water. Fox sewing up the wound in Liore’s stomach.

  If Fox can sew up a wound, so can I, Daniel decided. Madeline brought towels and a bowl with needles, thread and scissors soaking in iodine. Liore removed the shirt to reveal a long but shallow gash down the ribs on her left side. Her breasts were smaller and firmer than Madeline’s, and were padded out with quite astonishing pectoral muscles. Liore raised her left arm and rested it on Daniel’s shoulder. Madeline handed him a facecloth soaked in iodine, and he began trying to clean up the blood around the wound with his eyes closed.

  ‘For goodness sake, Daniel, open your eyes!’ snapped Madeline.

  ‘Is problem?’ asked Liore.

  ‘Please, this is very hard for me,’ pleaded Daniel. ‘I don’t cope well with the sight of blood.’

  ‘My blood is not real blood,’ said Liore.

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘It works better than real blood, but – but never mind, it is too hard to explain.’

  Daniel teetered on the brink of nausea for the entire half hour that it took to sew up Liore’s wound, but he did a very neat job. Finally he was able to turn his patient over to Madeline to do the bandaging. He sat on the edge of a bed, looked at the blood and iodine on his hands, and then made the mistake of thinking about what he had just done. The room began revolving before Daniel’s eyes as he fainted.

  Chapter 9

  HUNTER

  The following morning Liore and Madeline attended breakfast together in the saloon. Liore showed no sign of stiffness from her injuries, and her dress covered her cuts and bruises. Daniel arrived ten minutes later, still looking pale. He was beckoned over by the chief engineer and some officers as he tried to decide whether or not to join the girls.

  ‘I’ve not seen much of you down in the engine hall lately,’ said the engineer as Daniel sat down.

  ‘I’ve not been well, sir,’ Daniel replied.

  ‘Ha ha, a touch of mal de mer, my lad?’ laughed an officer.

  ‘Young Daniel is tougher than he looks,’ said the chief engineer. ‘Came to the aid of those two young ladies over there in Colombo. Saw off five ruffians, all by himself.’

  ‘Five of them, you say?’ asked another officer.

  ‘At least five, the young ladies said,’ another officer added.

  ‘There were only three, sir,’ said Daniel.

  ‘Ha ha, only three, he says.’

  ‘How are your injuries?’ asked the engineer.

  ‘My skin is still blue, green and purple in places, but I am well enough,’ said Daniel.

  ‘So, a real young warrior, this schoolboy!’ exclaimed the second officer.

  ‘Not at all, sir, I only let myself be beaten by the attackers to distract them until the police arrived.’

  ‘Modest, too,’ said the engineer. ‘Well, you’re welcome in the engine hall whenever you like.’

  ‘I shall come down in the afternoon. The young ladies want me to sit with them on the promenade deck this morning.’

  ‘Do they indeed? Mind yourself, lad. The next thing you know they’ll be inviting you to walk arm-in-arm to lunch, and in London you will be asked to meet their mothers.’

  If only you knew, thought Daniel.

  ‘I say, has anyone seen the purser?’ asked the third officer.

  ‘Not seen him since yesterday,’ said the engineer.

  ‘I saw him late last night,’ said Daniel. ‘He was with some men, checking cabins. I am not sure why.’

  ‘Interesting. There have been several complaints this morning. It seems that Mr Greely exceeded his authority last night in his zeal to find some stolen property. The captain wants a word with him, but a steward said that his bed has not been slept in.’

  ‘Strange,’ said the third officer. ‘Where could he be? Think I should send the stewards in search of him?’

  ‘Seems a good idea,’ said the second officer.

  When Daniel walked out onto the promenade deck he found that Liore and Madeline had saved a deckchair between them. He was not sure what to make of this, but had the impression that he was being flanked.

  ‘Ladies, may I join you?’ he asked.

  ‘Welcome, Daniel, do sit down,’ said Madeline.

  ‘By your leave, speaking courtly,’ said Liore.

  Slowly and uneasily, Daniel sat down between the two girls.

  ‘Any news of the purser?’ asked Madeline softly.

  ‘Nobody has set eyes on him since . . . since we saw him last night,’ replied Daniel.

  ‘Perhaps he has had an accident,’ suggested Liore. ‘Ships can be very dangerous.’

  They sat in silence for a while, with the balmy breeze of the ship’s passage blowing over them. Liore glanced about, then took out her radiocomm, holding it like a little book.

  ‘Daniel, you have learned a lot about the operation of the radiocomms,’ she said. ‘For someone born a century before they were invented, you have done well.’

  ‘Thank you, um, Commander.’

  ‘But you still have a lot to learn.’

  ‘Well, I am only a schoolboy.’

  ‘What happens when you press this stud?’

  ‘That switches it on.’

  ‘And this one?’

  ‘It lights up the screen.’

  ‘All the studs light up the screen, Daniel. This stud also activates transceive.’

  ‘I don’t know that word.’

  ‘It means transmit and receive. Only a double click puts it into receive-only.’

  ‘Oh. Thank you, I shall remember that and – Oh, good heavens!’

  ‘What is it?’ asked Madeline.

  Daniel went totally limp, and had he not been lying down he might have fainted again. He seriously considered jumping over the side.

  ‘It was transceiving last night,’ said Liore when Daniel proved incapable of replying. ‘My unit was on receive.’

  ‘Daniel, what does she mean?’ asked Madeline.

  ‘Battle Commander Liore heard everything that went on in your cabin last night.’

  ‘Oh – ah, merde!’ exclaimed Madeline.

  Liore folded her hands over the radiocomm and looked out over the Red Sea.

  ‘Remember, Daniel and I both speak French,’ she said to Madeline.

  ‘I can explain,’ ventured Daniel.

  ‘Go on,’ said Liore.

  ‘Actually, I can’t.’

  ‘Neither can I,’ said Madeline.

  ‘I think you did very well,’ said Liore. ‘You drove the Lionhearts out of the cabin without firing a shot. If only all battles could be settled as cleverly. Oh, and the camera was working too, so when Madeline held it up and –’

  ‘Don’t show me!’ exclaimed Daniel, putting his hands over his face.

  ‘Can I have a look?’ asked Madeline. Liore pressed some keys then handed the radiocomm to her. ‘Oh. Here we are, sitting up together.’

  ‘Please!’ exclaimed Daniel.

  ‘How can I watch more?’ said Madeline.

  ‘Press this stud and you go back in five minute jumps, this to go forward, this to play. The sound is off, because we are in a public place.’

  ‘Oh! Here’s Daniel, getting into his trousers. Nice legs.’

  ‘Here shark, shark, shark, I feel like jumping over the side,’ said Daniel.

  Liore stood up slowly, then gestured along the promenade deck. ‘Come along Daniel, we have much to discuss, especially regarding the weapon.’ They set off at a casual pace, leaving Madeline to the images of the night before.

  ‘I suppose you think I’m pathetic,’ said Daniel.

  ‘Actually no, but more of that in a moment. Daniel, until Colombo I felt so betrayed by you. I considered you my friend, and I was so angry when I thought you had betrayed me. I wanted to kill you slowly and really hurt you because my feelings got the better of me. That is not good discipline. Being alone
in your century is eroding my training. I have no CO to give me orders.’

  ‘CO?’

  ‘Commander of Operations. Last night, after the Lionhearts left the cabin, you called me your queen. I am a lot of things, but not that. Do you know who I admire most out of our former squad?’

  ‘Fox, probably. He can do everything, and –’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then it’s Muriel. She’s the most alluring girl in the whole world.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then who? Barry has cartloads of cunning, but nobody in their right mind would admire him. Emily can force people to do things by shouting at them, but so can a drill sergeant. That leaves nobody.’

  ‘That leaves you.’

  ‘What?’ exclaimed Daniel, stopping dead and staring in astonishment at Liore.

  ‘That leaves you.’

  ‘I heard you the first time. You admire me?’

  ‘On target – I mean true.’

  ‘Why? I’m a skinny schoolboy, not a hero like you. I mean – look, a month ago I was bending over and getting caned by old Mr Jackson in front of the whole Applied Maths class for writing poetry about Muriel when I should have been doing equations.’

  ‘You are also witty, innocent, brave, clever, kind, romantic and very resourceful. I want to be all of those things, but I am not, and never can be.’

  ‘You’re brave,’ said Daniel.

  ‘I have no fear at all, that is not bravery. I am good at killing people, but anyone can do that. It made me so sad to see you pining for Muriel, but I could do nothing. I solve problems by fighting and killing, but that could not help you.’

  ‘This is impossible!’ whispered Daniel, looking away from her and out to sea. ‘I’m an insect, good for nothing, worthy of nobody. You are so far above me.’

  ‘Silly Daniel. I really am a bit human, and I keep hearing about romance and the allure of the tropics. Last night I did something about it.’

  ‘What? You found time to court a boy while you were killing Lionhearts?’

  ‘Not quite. I let myself get wounded so that you would have to sew me up.’

  ‘Liore! That is the most twisted thing I have ever heard.’