Time's Chariot

by Ben Jeapes

  'The one thing you don't do,' said Ario, 'is take on unsolicited applicants. Well, you can, if you want the extra work. But you want to make sure you can take on people you can work with and approve of, and that usually means people you know. Of course, I've got some overflow sponsorees that I could let you have to get started.'

  'That's very kind of you,' Marje said.

  'And . . .' Ario gave a reluctant frown, the kind that said he really didn't want to have to interrupt the flow of bonhomie with something distasteful. 'Marje, I thought I should give you a word of advice, just between the two of us. There's a friendly bit of rivalry between the wings of the College, you know, Fieldwork and Correspondents and Social Studies and . . . but by and large, if you're actively dissatisfied with the actions of one of our staff, you should come straight to us. Don't have your office issue a complaint. It's bad form and, well, it detracts from the mystique of being a Commissioner. It shows us up to our juniors.'

  'Well, thank you,' said Marje, baffled. 'I'll remember that if I ever want to complain about someone.'

  'It's –' Ario gave a dry little laugh – 'it's a little late for that, Marje.'

  'It is?'

  'Isn't it?'

  'Isn't what?'

  They looked at each other for a few seconds in the silence that comes from a complete lack of communication. Marje broke the silence.

  'Yul – I may call you Yul? – what exactly are you trying to say?'

  'I'm trying to say that your office recently issued a complaint against one of my Field Ops, and I'd really rather you had brought it straight to me.'

  'Is that a fact?'

  'The Op in question has . . . well, a reputation for difficulty, but if he's to get into trouble I'd like it to be because of his professional conduct, not what he does in his time off duty.'

  'I'm not dissatisfied with one of your Ops!' Marje said. 'I don't know any of them.'

  'But if a complaint came from your office . . .'

  'Who was this Op, anyway?' Marje said with a sudden surge of intuition.

  'One Garron. Ri—'

  '—co Garron,' said Marje, shutting her eyes. She had just about got him out of her mind.

  'So you do know him?'

  'No! I mean, I've met him once, for about a minute. I could probably walk past him in the corridor without recognizing him again. And I certainly haven't made a complaint about him.' Ario still looked sceptical. 'I haven't!'

  'In that case, Marje, someone in your office is taking your name in vain,' Ario said. Marje cast her mind back to all the people who would have known about that brief meeting – and found there was only one. A cold anger welled up inside her.

  Marje was already annoyed, and was made more so by the fact that Hossein Asaldra could only blink as she gave vent to her feelings. From his typical expression of ennui there was no way of knowing how much of it was getting through. It would probably be the same even if he had been physically present, instead of just being projected.

  'If I want to reprimand someone, or even just complain about them, I'm perfectly capable of doing so!' she said. 'I don't need help or assistance and I don't like my name being used without my permission.'

  'I was out of order.' Asaldra still sounded bored. 'I apologize.'

  'You had no right to try and read my mind! That Field Op has been reprimanded. Have you ever had a reprimand on your record? Do you know how difficult it is to get rid of it? People ask questions for years afterwards . . .'

  'I apologize,' Asaldra said again. It was probably the best she was going to get. 'Perhaps I should apologize to Op Garron too. Though if he hadn't tried to masquerade as a Security Op, this wouldn't be happening now.'

  'No!' Marje could think of nothing likely to offend Rico Garron more than a wearied, monotone apology from Hossein Asaldra. 'No, don't bother. The complaint came from this office so the apology comes from me. And he wasn't masquerading, he was there by appointment to retrieve an item of equipment. He probably doesn't want it docked from his pay. Had that occurred to you?'

  'As you will.' Asaldra seemed to dismiss the subject for something he found far more interesting. 'If you've got a moment to project, Commissioner, there's something I thought you might like to see.'

  Marje was infuriated by the complete lack of interest shown in his change of subject. 'What?' she snapped.

  'Only something that could clear up a mystery several centuries old. Are you interested?'

  The cavern was still hazy with smoke, and the technicians and Security Ops moving around in it, studying the slagged remains of the equipment, wore breathing gear. The eidolons of Marje and Asaldra were unaffected.

  'That's . . .' Marje said, gesturing at the object in the centre of the cavern.

  'It's a transference chamber, yes.' Asaldra actually had a hint of excitement in his voice. 'Essentially the same as the type we use nowadays, though the design is more basic.'

  Marje looked around her. The walls were smooth but still had the look of having been hacked out of bedrock, and were lined with equipment. It reeked of antiquity, if antiquity was the word – it couldn't pre-date the College, and the College was only four hundred years old. 'What is this place?' she said.

  'I think it's where Morbern did his original experiments.'

  Marje let out a whistle. It made sense. Jean Morbern had come to the Antarctic in the first place because he wasn't sure how dangerous his experiments might be to other people; going underground as well would be one more sensible precaution. 'And it's been running all this time?'

  'Apparently. But all the machines were just ticking over, and everyone thought the power was being used by something else so no one ever checked. All the tunnels to it were blocked off, which helped.'

  'What changed?' Marje said. She should be getting back to work – she oughtn't to have time to spare to investigate strange caverns that had suddenly been discovered – but she was caught up by the mystery nonetheless.

  'This.' Asaldra indicated a nearby bank of equipment which was still gently steaming. 'A sudden power surge was picked up and Maintenance sent some people to investigate. They found this place. Something must have given and this meltdown resulted.'

  'That's some surge,' Marje said. 'Didn't Morbern use a clever twenty-sixth century device called a fuse?' Asaldra just shrugged. 'Well, there goes the museum exhibit.'

  'A lot of the equipment seems to be duplicated,' Asaldra said. 'If the museums want a console that Morbern sat at, there's plenty more left.'

  'Hmm.' The suspicion growing in Marje's mind was so inevitable she couldn't believe she had been the first to have it. 'Hossein, could this equipment have been used?'

  'All College personnel are accounted for,' he said. 'I checked.'

  'They're all here?' Marje said sceptically.

  'They are either in the Home Time or they left it via an authorized chamber.'

  'There are non-College personnel at the College.' It was a ghastly thought, but it had to be said. Non-College personnel, non-adherents to Morbern's Code, unleashed on the past . . . a nightmare scenario.

  He paused. Perhaps that point hadn't occurred to him. 'I don't think anyone else would have been able to work it, Commissioner. Look at this.' Their eidolons moved towards one of the panels. 'We're all too used to asking the Register to set coordinates. Could you work out how to do it manually, this way? It would be difficult enough for one of us, and for someone not trained in the theory . . .' His gaze moved to a point behind her and he drew himself up more smartly. 'Good day, Commissioner.'

  'Good day, Hossein,' said a man's voice. Marje turned to see Yul Ario's eidolon standing there, looking about him appreciatively. 'Quite a place you've unearthed here.'

  'Maintenance unearthed it, sir,' Asaldra said. 'I just reported it.'

  'Yes, why?' Marje said, suddenly curious. Fascinating though it was, it was nothing to do with her job, or Asaldra's. Asaldra looked artlessly at her.

  'I thought you'd be interested,' he said.

>   'Quite right. This is history, Marje!' Ario threw his arms wide to encompass the cavern. 'A capsule of history right under the College, and we head the College. Of course we had to know about it. Well done, Hossein.' He squinted up at the ceiling. 'Speaking of under the College, which bit are we under?'

  'Residential and administrative. The Appalachian consulate and various others,' Asaldra said.

  'Really? Well, I can see you've got everything under control, Hossein,' Ario said. If he had spoken to Marje in that patronizing tone, Marje would have hit him, but it seemed to go down well with Asaldra, who didn't show the least sign of irritation. And the subject of irritating people led Marje inevitably to think of Op Garron, so she made her apologies and withdrew.

  Marje had only met Garron once before, but still she hadn't been entirely accurate when she had told Ario she could pass the Field Op in the corridor without recognizing him. In the eidolon the blond stubbly hair and burning eyes hadn't changed. It was satisfying to note that when she had seen him in Daiho's apartment he had looked smug; now he just looked wary.

  'Yes?' he said.

  'Acting Commissioner Orendal,' Marje said.

  'Yes,' he said. 'I remember.' His voice was a lot colder than it had been before.

  'I hope this isn't a bad time to call?'

  'I'm just off on a field trip.'

  'I'll be quick, then. I owe you an apology, Op Garron.'

  That took him by surprise. 'Really?'

  'I gather a complaint was made against you that resulted in a reprimand. I'm sorry and I apologize on behalf of my office. The complaint didn't come from me.'

  'Really?' Garron repeated. 'Could I ask who, then, Commissioner?'

  'An over-zealous subordinate. It won't happen again.'

  Garron didn't say anything but his expression made clear his opinion of that particular promise. 'Is my record going to be altered?' he said innocently.

  The thought had occurred to Marje, but it was a sad fact of office politics that such things didn't happen. A really serious mistake would have led to an enquiry, Asaldra's disciplining and the altering of the record, but this sadly wasn't that serious and Asaldra didn't deserve that level of rebuke. And the system didn't allow for the correction of more minor errors.

  Op Garron, she suspected, knew all this perfectly well, so she didn't answer the question. 'I'd like to make up for it in some way,' she said.

  'Well, you could find my computer . . .'

  'You mean, you never did?'

  'Didn't have time before Security kindly showed me the way out. Some other Field Op will have it now, and the data'll have been erased anyway.'

  'Have you tried chasing it up?'

  'I keep checking at the wrong time. All I ever get is a "that item is not presently located in the Home Time", any time of day or night. I can take a hint.'

  'I'll find it for you,' Marje promised. 'That's the least I can do.'

  Garron still looked unimpressed. 'Can I go now, Acting Commissioner?'

  'If you like.' Marje was struck by inspiration, remembering her conversation with the other Commissioners about sponsors. 'Listen, it's possible I'm going to make patrician, and I'll have vacancies for sponsorship . . .'

  She almost flinched at the sheer hate in his expression. 'Thank you, that won't be necessary,' he said. 'Out.' He vanished.

  Well, up yours too, Op Garron, she thought bitterly. So much for trying to help. She half stood, then sat down again. No, she would find that computer. She had decided she would help Garron, and she would, and if he got even more annoyed then so much the better.

  She didn't know when Garron had had the computer, so she symbed into the College records.

  'Request number of field computers signed out by both Field Op Rico Garron and Commissioner Li Daiho in the last month.'

  'There is one field computer matching that criterion,' said the voice of Records.

  'Request its present location.'

  'That item is not presently located in the Home Time.'

  'To whom is it signed out?'

  'Commissioner Li Daiho.'

  'Commissioner Daiho is dead.'

  'Commissioner Daiho was the last individual to sign the computer out.'

  'So where is it?'

  'That item is not presently located in the Home Time.'

  'Request details of the last transference involving that computer.'

  'That computer has not been involved in a transference since Field Op Garron returned it to Stores.'

  'So where is it?'

  'It is not presently located in the Home Time.'

  'This is ridiculous.' Marje realized she was pacing about the room, and she made herself stop. There was a way of breaking this loop . . . but no, surely it was abuse of power . . .

  But she was a Commissioner, so . . .

  'Register, please,' she said.

  The Register's eidolon appeared in front of her, looking quizzical. It was outlined in blue to show it was a projection of an artificial personality, and the appearance it took was of a middle-aged white male. It was as Jean Morbern had looked at the height of his career. 'Marje?' it said.

  'Register, I'm sorry to use you for such a trivial matter . . .'

  The Register smiled. 'You're a Commissioner. Rank has its privileges.'

  'I thought I'd use them,' Marje said, relieved. 'I'm tracing a computer signed out recently by Li Daiho and Field Op Garron.'

  'Records can't help?'

  'You try it!' Marje said with feeling.

  'If you like.' The Register paused for half a second. 'I see your point. How annoying.'

  'So where's it got to?'

  'I have no idea. Records would try and trace it through the symb network. It's not responding to the signal, so it must be faulty. It was last seen with Commissioner Daiho, so perhaps you should check his things. His apartment has been reallocated but his effects will have been stored.'

  'That's been tried,' Marje said.

  'By Op Garron. I know – I gave him the authorization. But that is all I can suggest.'

  Then Marje remembered. Garron had indeed been there, but he had said, didn't have time.

  'Where are the things stored?' she said.

  'Here at the College.'

  'Right,' Marje said. She knew how she could help Garron and she was going to, whether he liked it or not.

  Seven

  And then,' said Rico, 'just to really rub it in, she offered me sponsorship.'

  'Shocking,' said Su.

  Looking like a man and woman of the reasonably prosperous merchant classes, they strolled arm in arm in the July sunshine along the footpath beside the Danube Canal, through the Prater park in the Vienna of 1508, capital of the Khanate of Austria.

  This was the gamma stream, one of several parallel Earth histories inadvertently created by Jean Morbern on his first trips into the past. The alpha stream was the 'official' history, the one Morbern would have recognized. In both alpha and gamma, the Golden Horde of Batu Khan had overrun eastern Europe in the thirteenth century. In the gamma stream, they had stayed.

  Here, Paulus Khan, many-times great grandson of the original Genghis, was the latest Khan to hold sway over the Khanate of Austria. The new empire was a happy blend of east and west, having made its peace with the Christians, and Rico and Su were often chosen for missions to this particular time: a Caucasian and an Asian together, apparently husband and wife, would raise no eyebrows. No one would have guessed that her flowing robes and scarf, his tunic and breeches weren't the work of the best tailors of the city but were imitations wrought by the gelfabric of their fieldsuits.

  By this world's twentieth century, the College would be openly running the place. Eventually it would take over all the worlds. After the creation of the Home Time in the twenty-sixth century, they would all be spliced back into the alpha stream and the populations of all the streams merged. But that was a long time in anyone's future. For now, the people of the College kept their heads down.

&
nbsp; 'I mean,' Rico said, 'insult or what?'

  'Terrible,' Su said.

  'She calls me up, she . . . yeah, OK, she says sorry, that's good of her, but then—'

  'Appalling,' said Su.

  Her tone was finally seeping through Rico's indignation. 'Su, why do I think you're not taking this seriously?'

  'I don't know. Why do you think I'm not taking this seriously?'

  'You're not, are you?'

  Su smiled sweetly and nodded at a couple passing in the other direction, then turned her head to glare at him. 'A Commissioner of the College contacts you, off her own bat, and apologizes for a wrong that was done to you, and offers to find your precious computer, and offers you something that others would kill for, and you're angry with her?'

  'Well . . .' Rico suddenly became aware of how ephemeral his indignation was and became doubly resolved to hang on to it. 'She thought she could buy me off that way.'

  'No, she didn't.' Su jabbed a finger into his chest to punctuate each word. 'She was trying to help you!'

  'Ow.' Rico rubbed his sternum resentfully.

  'Your record probably doesn't mention that you're the prickliest man on Earth so she couldn't have known that. She doesn't know a thing about you and in the absence of a large sign saying "I've got a massive chip on my shoulder" she made the mistake of treating you like someone normal. Like herself, really.'

  Rico was silent for some seconds. 'So what do I do, then?'

  'Apologize to her. You don't have to do it face to face, you can leave her a message. Thank her for her generous offer, tell her that it's really appreciated but it's not necessary. And don't sound like you're saying it by rote, try and put some meaning into it.'

  'Right.' Another pause. 'This generous offer thing – are we talking computers or sponsorship here?'

  'You let her work that out.'

  'Oh.'

  A symbed chime sounded in both their minds, and Su pulled a face. 'Work, work, always work. Come on, let's go.'

  They walked towards the Innere Stadt, using the spire of Saint Stephen's Cathedral as their guide through the narrow and irregular streets. The inner city of Vienna enfolded them. It felt odd to be surrounded by buildings so small and yet so crowded.