by Alex Scarrow
He nodded. ‘And we have to leave right now.’
‘OK,’ she uttered, grasping his extended hand tightly.
The stewardess tipped her head on one side curiously, her forehead furrowed, her lips pursed.She was about to ask how they planned to leave the plane exactly.
Then the world suddenly was a blinding white and Maddy snapped her eyes shut.
CHAPTER 5
2001, New York
She was screaming, at least that’s what she thought the sound was. It mighthave been her. It might have been the sound of a wing tearing itself from the plane.
It might even have been the stewardess; she wasn’t sure.
A terrifying dropping sensation, dropping away into darkness.
‘No-o-o-o-o!’ she found herself crying with a voice that sounded like the raggeddeath-squeal of a slaughtered pig.
She lurched suddenly and violently.
‘Oh Jay-zus-Christ-Almighty!’ a male voice beside her gasped.
Maddy’s eyes opened wide and locked on to a flickering light bulb dangling from a brickceiling, then on to the rusty springs of a grubby bunk bed directly above her. Finally, to herright, her eyes drifted to the smooth face of a young man sitting on a scruffy metal-framedbed across from her, dressed in what looked like a waiter’s uniform.
‘Jay-zus-Christ-Almighty, you made me jump there,’ he uttered. ‘One secondyou were sleeping all peaceful, the next you’re up like a screamin’banshee.’
Maddy felt her breath rattling like a startled moth caught in a wire cage. Wheezing, shelooked down and saw she was still clasping her inhaler, just as she had been a moment agoaboard the plane. She took a long pull on it and then managed to find enough air in her lungsto sit up slowly.
‘I’m dead. I must be dead.’
The young man managed a weak and awkward smile. ‘Me too… I think.’
They looked at each other for a moment. ‘I wonder,’ he said, ‘do you think-?’
‘That this is heaven?’ she finished his question. ‘No such thing. If thereis… then it looks a bit rubbish to me.’ The bunk bed in which she was lyingcreaked with movement from above. Maddy looked up at the springs and mattress.
‘Is there somebody else up there?’
Liam nodded. ‘Yeah, a young dark-skinned girl. She’s asleep.’
‘Her name’s Saleena,’ a voice called out of the darkness.
They both jerked round to look out into the gloom beyond the light thrown down from the barebulb.
They heard footsteps on the hard concrete floor, and then, faintly at first, they saw a manemerge from the darkness, carrying a tray.
‘Coffee?’ asked the old man.
‘Oh my God!’ gasped Maddy, recognizing the face.
Liam’s jaw dropped. ‘You! You’re the man on deck E.’
‘That’s right,’ he replied calmly. ‘My name’sFoster.’
He joined them, setting the tray of chipped mugs and a carton of doughnuts on the floorbetween the beds. He sat on the bed next to Liam.
‘And you’re Madelaine Carter, and you’re Liam O’Connor.’ Henodded towards the top bunk. ‘The girl up there’s Sal Vikram. She’s onlyyoung, thirteen. The poor girl will be terrified when she comes to. Here.’ He handedLiam and Maddy a mug of coffee. ‘You could both probably do with a littlepick-me-up.’
‘Mr Foster, is it?’ asked Liam.
He smiled. ‘Foster… Mr Foster, I’m not fussed.’
‘Mr Foster, where are we?’
Maddy nodded. ‘I should be dead. There’s no way youcould’ve got me off that plane. No way.’
Foster turned to her. ‘Time travel, remember?’
She narrowed her eyes. ‘But that’s impossible.’
‘No, it’s not — ’ he shook his head — ‘unfortunately.’
‘What’s time travel?’ asked Liam.
Maddy cocked her head at him. ‘You’re kidding me, right?’
‘Go easy on the lad,’ said Foster. ‘He’s from 1912. They didn’thave much in the way of sci-fi shows and comics back then.’
She turned back to Liam, looking more closely at his clothes: not a waiter, but aship’s steward. She spotted White Star Lines stitched on abreast pocket.
‘1912? You’re serious?’
‘Very,’ added Foster. ‘Liam here was aboard the Titanic.’
Her mouth flopped open.
‘What?’ Liam looked confused. ‘Why’re you staring at me likethat?’ he asked her.
‘Because, Liam,’ said Foster, ‘you’re from Ireland a hundred yearsago.’ The old man laughed. ‘And she’s from New York, the year2010.’
Liam’s dark eyebrows lifted in unison.
‘And Saleena Vikram, up there on the top bunk, she’s from Mumbai, India, theyear… 2026.’ Foster offered a grin that made his old face crinkle like greaseproofpaper. ‘And as for me, well — ’ he smiled — ‘let’s say Icome from Never-neverland.’
Maddy leaned forward. ‘Oh my God, come on, when? The twenty-second century? Furtheron?’
His smile told her nothing.
‘Do they have spaceships in your time? Has mankind colonized the solar system? Has warpdrive been invented yet — ?’
He held a hand up to shush her. ‘Another time, perhaps. Right now there are moreimportant things to attend to.’
Before either of them could reply, they heard a stirring from the bunk bedabove them.
‘She’s coming round,’ said Foster. ‘She’ll be even moredisorientated, more frightened, than either of you.’
Maddy slurped a hot mouthful of coffee from the mug in her hands. ‘I seriously doubtthat.’
The girl’s murmuring turned to a frightened whimpering that quickly intensified. Fosterstood up and leaned over the top bunk.
‘Shhh… it’s OK, Saleena,’ he cooed reassuringly. ‘It’sall over. You’re safe now.’
The girl’s mewling voice became a sudden shrill shriek as her eyes snapped open and shesat stiffly upright on the bunk.
Foster held her narrow shoulders firmly. ‘Saleena.’ He spoke quickly and softly.‘You’re safe; no one can hurt you here. It’s over.’
The girl’s breath came in short stuttering gasps. Her eyes, thickly rimmed with darkeyeliner, widened behind a drooping black fringe that slanted across her narrow face. Theydarted from one thing to another, for the moment it seemed making sense of absolutelynothing.
‘It’s over, Saleena,’ said Foster again. ‘You’re safenow.’
Her gaze settled on the old man. She flicked her fringe away from an almost ashen face; hercoffee-coloured skin was drained to an almost corpse-like grey.
Liam stood up and peered over the edge of the bunk, cocking a bemused eyebrow at her strangeappearance: a dark hooded top with some scruffy wording splashed in neon orange across it;thin drainpipe jeans ripped and patched, with patches on top of patches; and boots that lookedtwo sizes too big for her, laced up past her ankles… And a small stud pierced her upperlip.
‘Uh…’ He did a double take before extending a hand in greeting. ‘Myname’s Liam O’Connor. Pleased to — ’
‘Give her a moment, Liam,’ said Foster. ‘Just amoment… her extraction was particularly traumatic.’
‘Is it you?’ Her voice was small, shaken, uncertain. ‘The man… theman in the flames.’
‘That’s right.’ He smiled warmly. ‘It’s me, Saleena.’
‘Sal,’ she replied. ‘Sal… Only my mum and dad call meSaleena.’
‘Sal, then,’ he said, helping her up. She swung her legs over the side of thebunk and silently studied the other two: a boy dressed like a hotel porter, and a lank-hairedteenage girl with glasses.
‘Hey,’ said Maddy, ‘welcome to Weirdsville.’
‘Just give her a bit of room there. Let her catch her breath.’
‘You got an odd accent, so you have,’ said Liam curiously to Sal.
‘That’s rich,’ snorted Maddy, ‘coming from you.’
‘She’s from a city call
ed Mumbai, in India, Liam. You’d know it asBombay.’
‘But she speaks English, so she does.’
‘Well, duh,’ said Maddy, rolling her eyes, ‘they all do. It’s abilingual nation.’
CHAPTER 6
2001, New York
The coffee was gone and one last unwanted doughnut sat in the box.
‘We’ve been… did you say recruited?’Maddy repeated.
‘Yes, that’s right. You’re working for the agency now.’
Liam leaned forward. ‘Uh… Mr Foster, sir, what exactly is theagency?’
‘Let me go through everything I need to say first. Then you can all ask as manyquestions as you like. It’ll be much quicker if we do this my way.’
They nodded.
Foster pointed out at the darkness beyond the alcove. ‘I left the other lights off inhere so you wouldn’t see it all — this place, the equipment — and beoverwhelmed by it. Right now let’s just pretend there’s only this little brickarchway, that light bulb, the four of us and these beds… and that’s whereI’ll start.’
He took a deep breath.
‘Time travel exists, boys and girls.’
He left that statement hanging in the air for a few moments before continuing.
‘A theoretical physics paper demonstrating the possibility was written in 2029. Thefirst successful prototype machine was constructed in 2044.’ He sighed. ‘Now thatwe’ve opened that can of worms we can’t close it.’
He studied them with deep stern eyes hidden between furrowed eyebrows andsallow cheeks etched with criss-crossing wrinkles.
‘Mankind was never meant to dabble with time. Never! Butnow that we know how to somebody needs to make sure that nobody actually does so. And, if some fool does go back in time, then it’s someone’s jobto fix the damage caused as quickly as possible.’
There was a faint tremor in his rasping old-man’s voice.
‘Time travel is a terrifying weapon, far more powerful than anything ever beforeconceived,’ he said grimly. ‘Mankind just isn’t ready for that kind ofknowledge. We’re like children casually playing toss and catch with an atombomb.’
Liam cocked his head questioningly. ‘What’s an atom b-?’
‘I’ll explain later,’ replied Foster. ‘Which brings me to you three,and this place,’ he said, gesturing at the darkness beyond the pool of light. ‘Thefact is there are too few of us TimeRiders — groups like us dotted around the world,dotted through time, watching and waiting patiently.’
‘Watching for what?’ asked Maddy.
‘For a shift.’
‘A shift?’
He nodded. ‘It starts as something ever so slight, almost unnoticeable to the eye. Youcatch it then, when it’s just a ripple. You have to because, before you know it, itbecomes a tidal wave; it becomes unstoppable, uncontrollable. And then we’re all trulyscrewed.’
Sal’s eyes had been lost in the darkness, still far away, but she turned to look atFoster. ‘What is a shift?’
‘A shift is the result of time being disturbed.’
Foster pursed his lips in thought for a moment. ‘OK, think of it like this: time is like a still pool, or a bath. Have you ever tried stepping into a bath without creating a ripple? It’s impossible, isn’tit?’
The three of them nodded as the bulb above them flickered and fizzed ever so slightly.
‘In the same way, it’s impossible to step through into the past without creatinga ripple. But the problem is the ripple spreads and grows from the point at which someonesteps in. From that we get a tidal wave that increases in size and destroys everything in itsway to replace it with a new world… a universe that might havebeen.’
Liam shook his head. ‘Not sure I understand.’
‘I get it,’ said Sal. ‘If you change the past a little, you’ll changethe present a lot.’
Foster nodded. ‘That’s exactly right, Sal.’
The light dimmed for a moment, then winked on and off. Foster looked up at it, irritated.‘The bulb’s worked loose again.’
He stood and, carefully covering his hands with the sleeve of his jumper, twisted the bulb.The flickering stopped.
‘We need to rewire this place… but there never seems to be enoughtime.’
Maddy looked around. ‘Where are we? It looks like some skanky old railwayarch.’
Foster smiled. ‘That’s pretty much what it is. It’s actually a-’
The light dimmed and flickered once more and his eyes suddenly widened.
‘Oh no.’
The others looked up at his face, all of a sudden a shade paler.
‘What’s up?’ asked Maddy.
‘It’s here…’ he whispered.
‘A shift?’ asked Liam.
‘No — ’ he shook his head — ‘worse.’
CHAPTER 7
2001, New York
Foster’s eyes remained on the fizzing and flickering light bulb.‘It’s draining the energy. I thought it was the damned light bulb on the fritz.Stupid of me,’ he hissed.
‘What’s draining the energy?’ asked Maddy.
The strained tone in Foster’s lowered voice unsettled the others.
‘I thought the thing had gone.’
‘What thing?’ asked Liam.
Foster turned to him, raising a finger to his lips to hush them.
‘A seeker. It should’ve faded by now… It musthave been leeching power somehow, just enough to keep it alive.’
The old man reached up with one hand and found a switch on the brick wall. He snapped it offand instantly the bulb winked out, leaving them in complete darkness.
Sal’s small voice cut the silence softly. ‘Er… it’s dark.’
‘Shhh, it’s all right,’ Foster whispered. ‘We’re going to sittight for a little while. As long as we’re still, we’ll be just fine.’
A long silence stretched out, disturbed only by the sound of their ragged breathing. ThenLiam saw something faint moving in the darkness, the slightest glow, barely an outline…of… something.
‘A seeker,’ Foster uttered quietly. ‘It’s very weak now — onits last legs.’
Maddy stirred. ‘It looks like a ghost.’
‘We don’t know what they are exactly,’ replied Foster, ‘but every nowand then when you open a time portal… it’s possible to attract one, accidentallytrap one of them and bring it back with you.’
The undulating outline pulsed and flickered like a loose cluster of fireflies, embers dancingabove a campfire.
‘That’s what happened here. The last team…’ Foster’s whisperquietened to nothing.
‘The last team what?’ asked Maddy.
‘I must have brought one back with me… the last mission I took into thepast,’ he replied. ‘I went out for some food, came back a few hourslater…’ He paused for a moment, considering how to continue. ‘What was leftof them wasn’t very nice to look at.’
Liam heard Maddy’s breath hitch.
‘They’re pure energy. But they can take physical formif they’re charged up enough. It’s not good when that happens.’
The pale blue cloud drifted across the darkness in front of them, a spectral form like a lostspirit in a graveyard, a wisp of morning mist in a deep, dark wood.
‘But this one’s grown weak. I thought it had gone, faded away to nothing.’He shook his head with disbelief. ‘I was cleaning up the mess, looking up your files onthe computer, preparing to send myself into the past to find you and bring you back. And allthat time the thing was lurking here in this place… quietly watching me.’
The shape stopped moving. It hovered just a few yards away, a dull pulsating glow that infleeting moments seemed to find a shape that reminded Liam of mythical creatures — acentaur, a unicorn, a dragon — before becoming a pale cloud once more.
‘I’d say it’s too weak to take a physical form. It’s dying. Butwe’re best just keeping back for now.’
‘Does that thing know we’re here?’ asked Maddy.
‘P
erhaps.’
Liam licked his dry lips anxiously. ‘Where did it come from?’
‘Another dimension,’ Foster replied, ‘another dimension overlaying ours,perhaps, attracted to the energy of a time portal like a moth is to light. These things areanother reason we should never have messed with time to begin with.’
The entity moved again, this time drifting ponderously towards them.
‘Er… it’s getting closer,’ whispered Sal.
‘Yes, I do believe it is.’
‘But we’re safe, right, Mr Foster?’ asked Liam.‘You said it’s too weak to hurt us?’
Foster’s silence in the pitch black was less than comforting.
‘We should leave,’ he finally replied. ‘We’ve got over thirty hoursbefore we need to return, before the arch’s time bubble resets. I can’t see thisthing surviving that much longer.’
‘Time bubble?’
‘I’ll explain outside. Everyone grab a hand. There’s a mess of things inhere to get tangled in. I need to lead us out.’
Liam, Maddy and Sal reached out and fumbled in the dark, each finding desperate probing handsand grasping them tightly.
‘Whose hand have I got?’ asked Foster, squeezing as he asked.
‘Uh… mine,’ replied Liam.
‘You holding someone else’s?’
‘Mine, I think,’ whispered Maddy. ‘And I’ve gotSal’s.’
‘Good… let’s move, slowly and quietly.’
Foster clambered to his feet and Liam felt a gentle pull. He followed, his eyes remaining onthe pale cloud a few yards away. It was hesitant now, still finding curious fleeting outlinesand just as quickly abandoning them.
Liam felt his feet catch on something snaking across the floor and steppedgingerly over it, fearful of tripping and making a noise. Behind him he heard Maddy and Saltreading lightly.
Through the pitch black, Foster led the way stealthily until finally Liam sensed they hadarrived at a wall.
‘The door’s here somewhere,’ hissed Foster.
He heard the old man patting the crumbling brick wall with his palms and then the rattle ofknuckles on something metal.
‘Found it.’
Liam turned to look over his shoulder. The seeker was little more than a faint blotch in thedarkness.
