by Kailin Gow
“Why not?” Grayson asks.
“Remember how far ahead it is that we’re from,” Jack points out. “Thousands of years. In this time period, it would be like trying to pinpoint one specific event in the Bronze Age, or a Roman town.”
“They remembered Pompeii,” Grayson counters.
Jack shakes his head. “The rest of the world was left after Pompeii.”
I think that’s the first time I really get how bad what’s coming is going to be. “You mean that there won’t be anything left?”
Jack hesitates. “I don’t think anyone really knows for sure, but it’s bad, Celes. People have been predicting the end of the world for as long as there have been records, and this is the closest it has been. This world is devastated, and the world of the future… that’s worse. When I left…” He doesn’t finish that.
I haven’t really thought about that. How bad would things have to be to get him to go? To get him to give up everything he had… we had in the future? What is it that humanity is facing there? Whatever it is, it’s obviously bad enough that it’s on a par with what’s coming in this time, and that sounds terrifying.
“Tell us the mission, Jack,” I say. “I don’t think I can remember it alone. There’s still a block in the way. What are we back here to do?”
“We’re here to stop it,” he says. “There are signs of things getting worse, of heat rising and natural disasters increasing, but everything we’ve done points to a single moment that triggers the end. The Apocalypse isn’t an accident. People cause it. Specific people.”
It’s easy to guess who. “Senator Hammond.”
Jack nods. “He’s one of them.”
“He said that he wanted to fade Johnny to stop him remembering something he was going to do,” I say. “It’s this, isn’t it? He causes the Apocalypse.”
“That’s what I think,” Jack says. “That’s what we all thought, when I left. I was given a list of people who were part of it, and his name was at the top of the list.”
“Who else is on it?” Grayson asks.
Jack shakes his head. “That isn’t important now. If I’d remembered a few years ago, maybe it would have made a difference. Now though, there isn’t time.”
“You make it sound like the end of the world is coming tomorrow,” Grayson says. Jack doesn’t answer.
“It isn’t, is it Jack?” I ask. “It isn’t literally tomorrow?”
Jack shakes his head. “Not tomorrow, I don’t think, but it could be days. Remember that I left before we found the exact date. That’s why I arrived early.”
I think back to the images that I saw in the footage from my memories. There wasn’t a date there either, but it’s obvious that I know it. If I could just get through to the memories that are buried in me, we’d know. Jack seems to sense what I’m thinking, because he puts a hand on my arm.
“Even if we knew for sure, it wouldn’t change the timescale, and we don’t have much time to spare to make you remember. We need to act now, and just trust that you’ll remember what you need to as we go.”
“So, what exactly is it that we need to do?” I ask.
“The plan used to be simple, but now, I think that there are two priorities,” Jack says. “It used to be just a case of stopping this, but now, with it so close…”
“You aren’t sure if we can actually do this?” Grayson asks.
Jack shakes his head. “So we need to get as many people to safety as we can. There are buildings that will withstand what’s coming. The strongest Locations, Hammond’s base.”
“It’s not enough,” I say. I can still remember too much of those images. “Whatever we do, people will still die. So many of them. We need to stop this.”
“Which means we need to stop Senator Hammond,” Jack says. “Whatever it takes.”
Something about the way he says that sounds ominous. “What are you saying, Jack?” I ask. “Exactly what was the mission you were sent back with?”
Jack looks at me for several seconds. “It’s simple Celes. I was sent back to kill the people who are going to cause this, before they can kill everyone else.”
SEVENTEEN
“You want to assassinate Wilson Hammond?” Jonah asks, sounding shocked. Jack looks at him and shrugs.
“The Faders have killed people before. How many of the Others have I killed, over the years? And I know some of our people have gone out hunting them.”
“The Others would have killed us,” Sebastian points out. “It was us or them.”
“Right now, it’s Hammond or the entire planet,” Jack says. “Look, I don’t actually want to kill him. I just want to stop him. If you can give me a better way, then I’ll use it. It’s just that right now I can’t see one. Can you, Jonah?”
His uncle shakes his head. “I guess not.”
“Are you sure this is what we need to do?” I ask Jack.
He takes my hand in his. “I guess this is one of those areas where the you from the future understands better,” he says. “There, you’ve seen everything that’s going on, you’ve made so many hard decisions… it’s almost a shock to hear you ask it.”
“I am asking it though,” I say. I’m not going to be pushed into agreeing with Jack just because he’s so confident, and perfect, and…
“If we imprison him, he might escape,” Jack says. “If we talk to him, he’ll lie, or have us killed. If we shut down his plans for now, he’ll start them back up again. The world isn’t safe with him in it, Celes.”
“I don’t like agreeing with Jack,” Grayson says, moving to stand by the projector, “but put it like that, it doesn’t sound like we have a lot of choice.”
“I understand that,” Jonah says, “even if I don’t like it. What I’m saying is that you won’t find it easy.”
I nod. “Jonah has a point. I mean, senators are going to be pretty well guarded.”
“Senators?” Jonah says. “You haven’t seen the news? You don’t know what day it is?”
I shake my head. I don’t know what he means. With everything that’s been going on recently, I guess I haven’t been keeping up with the rest of the world too much.
“Turn on the TV function,” Sebastian says, and Jonah moves over to the projector controls, pressing buttons. Quickly, images come onto the projector screen once again, only this time, they’re obviously taken from current news channels. Four of them occupy parts of the projection in a split screen effect. I realize that they’re all showing the same thing.
Election coverage.
“But it can’t be the elections yet,” I say.
Sebastian Cook shrugs. “It is. Probably you lost track with the amount of running around you’ve been doing recently.”
So that’s why the news footage showing Senator Hammond promising aid was on TV. It was part of the campaign to make him look good. That, or a commentary on the probable winner, because even a quick glance at the screen shows that he’s currently on course for a landslide. He’s there addressing party supporters, his wife beside him. One person is notable by his absence, though.
“Johnny isn’t there,” I say. “They must have taken him off to fade him.”
“Then we have to get to him first,” Grayson insists. “We’ll need to tell Location Ten.”
“We have already notified them,” Sebastian says. “As soon as I got word from Jack about what was happening, I warned Lionel about the potential dangers.”
“Lionel?” I say, not quite able to believe it. “Lionel’s at Location Ten?”
“Yes,” Sebastian says, “and he should be able to give any of the Others who show up a nasty surprise or two. Why?”
“Didn’t Jack tell you what he and his people tried to do to us at the farmhouse?” I ask.
To my surprise, Sebastian nods. “He told us that some of Lionel’s people had attacked you, and that you believe Lionel feels that you are dangerous. What you have to understand though is that when you went missing, it was Lionel’s people who told us.
They would not have done that if they had been involved, would they?”
“It was one of Lionel’s people who attacked me and Celes,” Grayson counters. “They were trying to kill us. Why would they do that if Lionel was loyal?”
“When you went missing, I asked myself the same kind of questions,” Sebastian says. “I looked into Lionel, and it’s true that he’s cautious where the safety of other Faders is concerned, but I don’t believe he would ever do anything to risk Jack’s wellbeing, or the organization as a whole.”
“So you don’t think he’s a traitor?” I say.
Sebastian shakes his head. “I think someone has done a good job of making it look that way though.”
“Who?” Jack asks that. “If someone were able to make it look like Lionel is working with the Others, then that would mean…”
“That the Faders had been infiltrated,” Sebastian says. “I know that. We believe that one of Lionel’s people was a double agent. She appears to be dead now.”
“Because Celes burned her,” Grayson says. “Are you really telling me that you think Lionel is innocent? That he wouldn’t have known what was going on?”
Sebastian shrugs. “We didn’t, so why should he? I know I’ve told you in the past that Lionel and I don’t see eye to eye on some things, but he is loyal. I’ve had proof of that loyalty again and again over the years. There is no one better suited to holding off the Others at Location Ten than him, and I won’t hear anyone say otherwise.”
“I hope you’re right,” I say. “If Johnny is faded, it could be bad.”
Jack nods. “I think we’re just going to have to trust that my father is right on this one.” He turns to Sebastian. “Will Lionel be able to hold Location Ten against a serious attack? Will the Others be able to get to the machine?”
“It should be fine,” his father says. “Lionel called in people from other Locations to help guard the place, so nothing short of an army should be able to get through to the machine.”
“That’s good,” Jack says, his eyes on the screen in front of us. “Because I don’t think we’ll be able to head for Location Ten anytime soon. I won’t, at least.”
“What?” I ask. “Why not? Don’t you want to get to Johnny?”
Jack nods to the screen. On it, Senator Hammond is celebrating. On it, the words ‘opponent concedes election, Hammond victorious’ roll around and around across the screen. He’s won. The guy who kept us all locked up, who had us beaten up and threatened, who wants to fade Johnny’s memories. He’s won the presidency.
Jonah does something with the controls for the projector and one of the news reports fills the center of the screen. Senator Hammond… President Hammond, is addressing his supporters.
“I’d just like to take a moment to thank everybody here,” he says, looking out over the assembled crowd to the cameras. “I’d like to thank all of you for putting in so much hard work in the past few months. I’d like to thank everybody who has helped to get the vote out today, and everybody at home who has voted to make a real difference to this country. I’d especially like to thank my lovely wife for agreeing to deal with the kind of constant exposure that a presidential campaign means, and for seeing just how important what we’re trying to achieve is.”
Well, yes, I think. I guess the end of the world would qualify as kind of important. I’m pretty sure though that bringing it about didn’t form part of his election platform. Though it might have made for some interesting presidential debates.
“Now isn’t the time for making promises,” Hammond says to the waiting crowd. “I’ve only just heard that my opponent has pulled out of the race, and in any case, I’d guess that you’ve all heard far too many promises from me over the past few weeks. Today is about celebrating the success you have all helped to bring about, and about being thankful that the people of our great nation have entrusted me with such a great responsibility. Today is about enjoying this moment.”
Hammond’s expression turns a little harder then. “Tomorrow though, we’ll start working to make the changes that we all need, and that you all voted for. I promise that I will work as hard as you all want me to in order to build a safer, better country. In order to build a future that we can all be proud of. Thank you.”
Predictably, the crowd around him breaks into a standing ovation. I guess that’s what happens in a room full of committed party supporters. And if I’m honest, I guess that a week or two ago, I wouldn’t have been too unhappy to see Wilson Hammond win the election. He came across on TV as a trustworthy guy, with sensible policies and an ability to persuade people that meant things might actually get done. That was before he locked me away, though. That was before I knew what he might be trying to do.
No one speaks when the TV switches off. No one says anything for almost a minute.
“So now he’s the president,” Grayson says at last. “The guy who’s going to end the world is the president.”
“We still have to stop him,” Jack says.
“Is it just me, or does that feel kind of… I don’t know, unpatriotic?” Grayson asks. “I mean, I’m pretty sure that assassinating a president is kind of frowned upon.”
“Speaking as a future president,” I say, thinking of the footage that Sebastian managed to pull from my memories, “I’m not exactly happy about it either.”
“How do you think I feel?” Jack demands in a tone that’s a lot more serious than either of ours. “I’ve spent most of my life keeping Celes alive and safe. I even swore to protect the president, whoever that was. But Hammond… what he’s going to do… he has to be stopped.”
I nod, slipping an arm around Jack’s waist so that I can hold him close. “I know. I know what’s at stake. Well, kind of. But this… it’s a huge thing to try to do, Jack. It won’t be easy. Getting to a senator would be bad enough, but the president is far, far harder. If it goes wrong, you could be killed.”
Jack kisses me, softly. Almost like he’s saying goodbye. “I know that, Celes. I knew that stepping into the fading machine. I knew that, whether I succeeded or failed, I probably wouldn’t be coming back. I thought I had to succeed because it would prevent a great disaster and save our world. Now… now I have another reason.”
“What’s that?” I ask.
“You’re here. If I don’t succeed, the Apocalypse will come, and you’ll be here. I won’t risk that happening to you. I’ll do whatever I have to do to keep you safe. To keep us all safe.”
“Including killing the president?”
Jack looks up at the screen again. It’s blank now, but I can almost see him picturing Wilson Hammond’s face. “I’m as patriotic as the next person, but I swore to protect one president. If that means doing whatever I have to so that I can stop another, then so be it.”
EIGHTEEN
“Whatever you’re going to do,” Jonah says, “you had better act now.” He presses a few buttons, and the screen shows two images. Both look like they’re of the sun, only one is noticeably larger than the other. Not by much, but the difference is there.
“It’s already begun,” I say.
“Don’t worry,” Jonah says. “We’re in a safe house. The materials here should be able to withstand the increase in temperature. At least assuming that the sun doesn’t expand enough to actually consume the Earth.”
“We’ve prepared for this,” Sebastian adds.
I shake my head. “But millions of people haven’t. They’ll die.”
“Only if we don’t stop it,” Jack says, taking each of his guns from his jacket in turn and checking them before replacing them. “Is the chopper re-fueled and ready to fly?”
Sebastian nods. “If it’s what you need.”
“We have to stop Hammond,” Jack says. “He’s the key.”
I know he’s right. I can feel it. This is why I came back. This is what I’m here to do, as much as Jack is. Which means I need to help. I also need to prepare for the worst case scenario.
“We need to get to Ha
mmond,” I say, “but we also need to protect people. There is so much space in the Locations, and I can’t believe the government won’t have other shelters in place too. Hammond and the Others’ places show we’re not the only ones prepared for this.”
Jonah pulls up a screen showing a series of orange dots, scattered all over the world. “As far as I can tell, all these dots represent shelters. Some are ours, but others are run by governments around the world. I suppose people have been prepared for this eventuality for a long time. It’s not that surprising when you think about it.”
“People have been predicting the end of the world for a long time,” Sebastian agrees.
“I don’t think any of us actually expected it to show up now though,” Jonah says. His face is ashen.
“So the first priority is to get people into those shelters,” I say. It seems strange to be taking charge like this, but at the same time, it feels like what I’m meant to be doing. “Can you do it without causing panic?”
“We’ll use the Faders,” Jonah says. “They’re used to being discrete. Even if they’re successful though…”
“Not everyone can fit in the shelters,” I finish for him. “Millions of people will still die. I know, which is why stopping this is the key. And that’s why I’m going with Jack to see Hammond.”
“I’m not sure-” Sebastian begins, but I cut him off. I’m not sure where the confidence to do it comes from.
“I am,” I say. I turn to Grayson before he can say anything, putting a finger to his lips. “No, Grayson. I need someone to get people to those shelters. Someone I can trust. You’re a Fader, and you know how to do this, so it should be you. After all, you were never even meant to come back here.”
“You sound like you aren’t coming back,” he says.
I shake my head. “Don’t worry, you’ll see me again.”
“Celestra,” Sebastian asks, “what exactly do you think you’re going to be able to add here? Jack is a highly trained operative, but you…”
