by Al K. Line
Contents
Title Page
Digging
Burying
Visitors
Confusion
Introductions
Brain Melt
Feeding the Ducks
Really Confusing
Bad News
Really Bad News
Home Again
An Explanation
A Long Story
Placing Blame
Nasty Surprises
What Price Freedom?
Time to Act
D-Day
An Unwanted Discovery
Back to the Past
Ending the World
A Strange Reunion
New but Old
Old Friends
Catching Up
How Many!?
The Cold Reality
What Now?
How to Rule the World
Absolute Power...
Convoluted Plans
Decision Made
Killing Spree
Broken Minds
Back to Reality
Hexad
The Factory
(Hexad Book 1)
Copyright © 2015 Al K. Line
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All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the author except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Digging
Present Day
A blackbird chattered angrily from the lush cover of the apple tree where the blossom had faded, replaced by tiny fruits, annoyed at having its breakfast interrupted. The sunflower seeds in the hanging feeder were tantalizingly close, but they remained elusive until the man finished whatever it was he was doing.
The resident gray squirrel watched from the safety of a large conifer hedge bordering the garden, scratching an ear while it waited, tail twitching manically with anticipation, hoping that its horde of seed and nuts wasn't discovered by the strange behavior being carried out on its territory. It tried to figure out how to steal the seed from the feeder while it waited impatiently.
Dale ignored the costly wildlife — it seemed like he was making a weekly trip to the local pet supply store these days — and stopped for a second to wipe the sweat from his eyes, then looked around guiltily.
He felt a little queasy, the wine from the night before lingering in the form of a slight hangover — he definitely should have drunk more water before he came out to dig in the dirt, but he was too excited. He couldn't even consider stopping for such base needs when he woke up, the crazy conversation of the drunken evening with Amanda nagging at his mind like a cold caller refusing to take no for an answer, ringing back until you gave in and said, "Why yes, I do have a problem with my computer and I would be over the moon to give you my password so you can fix it for me dear stranger."
"I must be bloody mad," muttered Dale to nobody in particular, forehead now smeared with sweat and dirt. He stared at his hands, then at the bare patch of ground accusingly. "Should have cut my nails, this will be a pain to get out. God, what am I doing? This is stupid." Yet he knew he had to do it, he simply had to find out; what if it really had happened? How cool would that be?
Amanda would laugh her head off if she could see me now. Hope she has a lie-in so I can pretend I never did this. What an idiot!
Dale continued digging up the lawn while more birds amassed in the apple tree, waiting to take their turn at breaking their fast.
"What you doing Dale?" asked Amanda, huge smile on her face.
"Damn, you made me jump. Morning honey, thought you were going to have a lie-in."
She'll never let me hear the end of this. Probably laugh at me for the rest of our lives. She's gonna remind me of this every day until we die of old age. Worse, she'll probably get it carved on my headstone: Here lies Dale; what an idiot!
"I needed a wee, and a drink, so I thought I may as well get up." Amanda just stood there, smiling enigmatically.
Dale shielded his eyes from the morning sun rising right behind the love of his life, making her little more than a silhouette, but there was no getting away from the smile, certainly there was no escaping the humiliating vibe of condescending amusement that was emanating from her.
Silence.
"Oh, all right. I know, I know. But I had to look. Stupid, right?"
"Well, you could say that, yes. Or you could say that you are still drunk and that you don't seriously expect it to be there." Amanda waited for an answer, Dale said nothing, just fidgeted awkwardly, trying to remove the dirt from under his nails. "You do, don't you? Oh my god! You really think it's going to be there." Amanda walked around to the other side of the tree, then poked her head out from behind the trunk as birds scattered into the safety of the hedge. "Ooh, it's so exciting, I can't wait. Go on then, carry on digging up the lawn with your bare hands like a demented mole."
"There's no need to be cheeky. I know it's stupid all right? But, well, erm..."
"You could have at least used a trowel," offered Amanda helpfully.
"I was too excited," mumbled Dale.
"What was that? Didn't quite catch it."
If she smiles any wider she's gonna lose it off the side of her face.
"I said I was too excited, all right?"
I am such a muppet.
Amanda burst out laughing, unable to contain herself any longer. The blackbird, the bravest of the hungry new parents that brought constant chatter to the garden from dawn to dusk, flew off startled. The squirrel retreated deeper into the hedge that bordered with the Tambornes at number 19.
God, what if the neighbors are watching? Nah, they'll be off with the kids somewhere by now. Dale checked his watch; it was half nine. The day was set to be a real scorcher if it was this hot so early.
"Okay, stop laughing. And I thought you said you didn't have a lie-in? It's late already."
"It's not a lie-in for a Saturday, not after last night anyway. Go on then, carry on." Amanda nodded at the mess Dale had made of the lawn, tufts off grass piled high along with the earth he'd removed so far. A worm wriggled in the rich soil, but the garden's resident robin took a chance and quickly flew in, taking it back to the hedge to eat while it watched the scene unfolding on the lawn.
When he'd got up he'd quickly had a pee, got dressed, then gone straight out into the garden, unable to stop himself. He'd walked up to the tree, stood in front of it, taken two steps to the right, one backward, then eyed the ground excitedly. He felt stupid, but at the same time he knew that he simply had to look — just in case. Thinking about it now, it would have just been quicker to have got some tools out of the shed, rather than scraping at the earth like a caveman digging for worms, heart beating fast in his chest. Even they probably used a stick or flint, or whatever it was that ancient man used instead of a proper trowel. Instead he'd acted like an over-excited kid waiting to go to the funfair
Dale couldn't help himself though and his heart was still beating double-time. What if? He had to find out, he simply had to.
"Here you go my hero, this will make your quest easier." Amanda handed him the trowel she'd got while he was lost in his dreams.
"Thanks. But can you stop with the sarcasm please? I know I'm an idiot and I know this is sill
y. You better not tell anyone!" said Dale in a panic.
"No way am I keeping that promise," giggled Amanda.
Dale scowled at her. "As I was saying," continued Dale. "No spilling the beans to anyone, but you can't tell me that you aren't just a little bit interested. If you think it's silly then why are you watching?"
"Because this is the funniest thing I've ever seen Dale, that's why. Plus you're kind of cute when you're embarrassed."
"Oi! I'm not embarrassed, it's just hot doing all this digging."
"You've only gone about a half foot, that's not exactly hard work."
Dale waved away her nonsense. "Whatever. You gonna go and put the kettle on then? I'm parched."
"Only if you promise to wait for me so I can watch you uncover the greatest invention in the whole history of the world ever." Amanda wandered off back to the house, laughing loudly as she went.
"Fine," said Dale, sitting down on the grass, staring at the hole accusingly. "Look at the trouble you've got me into. I'll never live this down. Never." The hole didn't say anything in reply, but that didn't stop Dale giving it another nasty look.
The robin landed on the pile of excavated soil, peering into the hole, taking a look at the carnage to its territory. It cocked its head sideways. Probably in amusement, thought Dale. It seemed that whenever he did anything in the garden there it would be, taking the chance to grab an uncovered worm or just indignant that Dale had dared to do something without asking permission first.
"Help yourself dude, I've got to wait for the girlfriend to bring the coffee so she can laugh at me some more." Accepting the invitation, the robin jumped into the hole then emerged gulping down the end of a worm before flying off to see what else was going on in the garden.
"Coffee's up," shouted Amanda, walking up the garden then handing Dale a steaming mug.
"Thanks."
"Well, what you waiting for?"
"I thought we were going to have our coffee first? And anyway, you don't believe it'll be there really."
"Do you? Seriously?"
"Well, no. But, you know... What if it is?"
"Wow! How much did you drink last night? You think because we made up a crazy idea while we were half gone on Chardonnay that it could actually be true?" Amanda settled on the grass beside him and ruffled his dark hair, making it messier than normal, the energetic curls going wild after her condescending head pat.
Dale turned to her, focusing pale blue eyes, still somewhat blurry without coffee, on her nicely tanned face. "I know it's silly, but it was just in my head when I woke up, and I kind of couldn't resist. But you're right, it's daft. That's what too much wine and no coffee the next morning does to my brain."
Amanda sipped on her black coffee while Dale downed his — cooled with a splash of milk. For a minute there was silence.
"Go on then."
"Eh? What? You want me to?"
"Don't care, but now that you've started, and I got the trowel for you..."
"Haha, gotcha. You want me to do it don't you? You think it might be true as well."
I knew it, she just doesn't want to admit that she's as curious as me.
"Don't be silly, but, well... Oh all right, you've made me curious now. I know it's bonkers and we are both going to be disappointed, but, just to be sure. Anyway, you started this."
Dale tried to think back to the night before, trying to remember who first came up with the idea. He couldn't remember how it started, but he did recall they both got really excited about it the more they drank. "Was it my idea?"
Amanda was obviously trying to recollect who had started them down the road of crazy conjecture. "Dunno, not sure, we were quite well gone by then I think. I do remember you saying that wouldn't it be cool if time travel really did exist, and I agreed, obviously. Then we spent about an hour saying where we would go if it was possible, then I think we had a bit of an argument about if it would be possible to travel into the past or not as that has definitely already happened so how could you change it."
"That's right, and then you said that if you could travel forward in time then you'd have to be able to travel back in time too, or how else would there ever have been a past, or how would you get back. Or something like that anyway." Dale scratched at his head, trying to calm his hair that was getting in his eyes as a light breeze played across the lawn. "Ugh, it got really confusing."
"I know, right? I said that if time travel was invented in the future then it stood to reason that it meant that the future had already happened as well, so you must be able to travel back in time too. And then we both said that if it was invented in our lifetime then wouldn't it be cool if we came back to our present and left a message telling us that it was true." Amanda furrowed her brow, trying to get it straight in her head. "Oh, how confusing is this? It's just as bad as last night. We were totally hammered and no mistake."
"I think you had more than me, I don't feel too bad now. Nice cuppa, thanks." Dale put his mug down on the grass and thought back to the night before. "I remember that before you went off to bed I said that if it did happen then I'd travel to the past and leave proof that it was real. I'd bury something in a tin under the apple tree."
"You're right, I remember. And I said that's silly as then the ground would be all disturbed so it wouldn't be proof as one of us could have just got up in the night and played a trick. Is that what you're doing, playing a trick on me? Because how do I know that you haven't just buried something there before I got up?"
"First, I didn't, and secondly, you can see that I haven't got far yet and the ground is pretty solid. No loose soil."
"Whatever, we're just being silly anyway. But I remember that I said if we really wanted to prove it then we should come back to a year before today and bury something, so the ground would be hard and there definitely wouldn't be any funny business."
"So that's what I'm doing. Stupid, but I had to look. I know that if I don't then every time I come out here I'll be looking at the damn tree and thinking, what if?"
Amanda finished her coffee and put her mug down next to Dale's. "Go on then. I'm feeling ridiculous but now I know I'll be itching to dig up the lawn too if you don't."
Dale picked up the trowel, winked at Amanda, and stood up. "Two steps to the right of the tree and one back, that's where I said we'd put it, right?"
"Maybe. I think I was only half listening by then; I was done for."
"Here goes nothing then." Dale got onto his knees and began to dig.
Amanda cast a shadow as she stood watching him down on all fours, her long blond hair falling forward over her face, her features lost beneath her pride and joy. She loved her hair, hadn't cut it for over a decade, and annoyed Dale no end with the time she spent washing it, conditioning it, and who knew what else that made her spend way too long in the bathroom every morning.
Clunk.
"No. Way."
"What? What is it? Let me see. If you are messing with me Dale Ando then I will rip off your willy and post it back to you in the second class mail."
"I'm not messin', and you leave my member out of this." Dale rapped on the top of something metal, then brushed away the soil with a muddy hand. "There's something here, there really is. Unbelievable."
"Could just be something from the previous owners."
"What, in the exact spot I'm digging in? Doubt it."
"Well get the bloody thing out then!" cried Amanda. "Come on, hurry up."
"Okay, okay, no need to shout." Dale used the trowel to dig around the prize: a tin of Quality Street, Amanda's favorite chocolates. There was always a tin hanging about the house and when they were empty she used them to store seed in that she collected from the flowers in the autumn. He worked it loose and pulled it out, sitting back on the grass, sweat blurring his eyes, not from the heat, but from the excitement. "Quality Street. Look familiar?"
"I can't believe this, this is totally surreal. We get drunk and talk about time travel and burying messages and now there
really is a sign. What's in it?"
Dale shook the tin. It had felt empty but he heard a slight rustling as he rattled it harder. "Let's find out. You ready?"
Amanda sat down with a bump next to Dale. "You betcha." She smiled excitedly, eyes gleaming with manic curiosity.
Dale prised open the lid of the tin, mumbling to himself as he always did about them being a right bugger to open.
Inside was a piece of paper, just ripped from a notepad by the looks of it. He unfolded it and read, "Welcome to the Hexad experience. You guys are in for a busy day. Dale. p.s. How's the hangover? If I remember right then it was a bit of a mad night. Drink some more coffee, trust me, you're gonna need it."
Dale passed the paper to Amanda; she read it slowly, eyes scanning left to right as if looking for hidden clues.
"What's a Hexad?"
"Who knows? But sod that, I just sent us a message from the future, that I went into the past to bury, so we'd find it today. This is nuts."
"I'm gonna put the kettle on."
"What!? Now?"
"You read the message, you said we should have coffee."
"I know, but now? We just discovered time travel."
"No Dale, we didn't. But somebody did, at some point in the future, and we got to do it, so I think we should have some coffee."
How can she be so calm?
Amanda got to her feet, picked up the mugs then promptly fell flat on her face, out cold.
Thought she was taking it a little too well.
Dale heard the words on the message ring around his head as he got up to make sure Amanda was all right.
Welcome to the Hexad.
Burying
1 Year Past
"Ssh, you'll wake us up," said Dale, putting a finger to his lips, shining the torch on the ground where Amanda was trying to put the tin in, refusing to acknowledge the hole she'd dug wasn't big enough yet.
"Don't be daft, we don't even live here yet. Shine that torch a little to the left will you?"
Dale adjusted the position of the light. "Oh yeah, I forgot. This stuff is still so confusing it makes my head hurt at times. So, this is a year before we dig it up, right?"
