by Alex Scarrow
‘Did you feel it? A tremor?’
‘No,’ he replied, his eyes and aim stil on Maddy. ‘I didn’t feel anything.’
‘I felt something,’ said Edward.
‘Oh my God … the jungle’s changed,’ said Laura.
‘Something di erent. I don’t know what. Something –’
Sal nodded. ‘The set lement’s gone. It’s an early ripple
… the big change wil fol ow.’
Cartwright cursed. He desperately wanted to see this.
‘You!’ he snapped at Maddy, waving his gun, ‘over there by the entrance. NOW!’
Maddy nodded meekly and hurried across the archway to join the others standing in the entrance and looking out at the jungle. Cartwright joined them, keeping a cautious few yards’ distance and holding his gun on them as he watched the evening jungle. ‘What happens next?’
‘The big wave,’ said Sal. ‘You’l feel dizzy just as it …’
She looked at him, her eyes round. ‘Do you feel it now?’
His eyes widened. ‘My God, yes! Like an earth tremor!’
On the horizon the orange stain of dusk was blot ed out by what appeared to be a rol ing bank of raincloud, a storm front rushing in from the Atlantic at an impossible speed.
‘What is that?’ he gasped.
‘What is that?’ he gasped.
‘The wave?’ whispered Edward.
Maddy nodded. ‘Another reality.’
It crossed over the island beyond the broad river and amid a churning soup of thick, shimmering air, realities mixed and became eeting impossibilities. Amid the churning reality soup they saw the winking ickering outline of tal buildings warping and twisting and Maddy thought she saw for a eeting moment a swarm of creatures in the sky like gargoyles, dragons – a possible reality, a possible species that in this correcting reality had no place, existing for a mere heartbeat, then erased. Then the wave was over the river and upon them. The archway exed and warped around them, the ground beneath their feet momentarily dropping away, becoming void.
Then, just like that, they were staring at a brick wal , ten feet opposite, across a cobbled stone backstreet. The rol ed-up tarpaulin with Forby’s corpse inside, that they’d placed just outside the entrance, was gone. Instead he was standing to one side of the entrance, talking in hushed tones with two other armed men. A spotlight ickered across the backstreet as overhead they heard the whupwhup-whup of a circling helicopter. Cartwright’s jaw hung slack and open, his gun arm lowered down to his side. ‘This … is … incredible.’
‘Isn’t it?’ said Maddy.
Forby looked up from his conversation. ‘Whuh? Oh, sir?
’ He looked perplexed, as did the other two men. ‘I uh …
’ He looked perplexed, as did the other two men. ‘I uh …
didn’t hear the door opening. You OK, sir?’
Cartwright’s face was stil immobile, stil frozen with incredulity.
‘Sir? Everything OK?’
He looked at his man. ‘Uh? Yes … yes, just ne.’ Alive once more. A faint smile of relief stretched across his thin lips. ‘Good to er … it’s good to see you again, Forby.’
Forby frowned and nodded. ‘Sir?’ Then he noticed Edward and Laura. ‘Who are these?’
Cartwright shook his head, gathering his confused wits.
‘I’l … I’l explain later.’ He turned to Maddy and the others. ‘Inside, you lot. Let’s close this door.’
Forby stepped forward but Cartwright waved him back.
‘You best stay outside for now, Forby, al right?’
He icked his gun at Laura. ‘Close the shut er.’
She began to crank the handle, but Sal stepped in and pressed the green but on. ‘It’s OK, we’ve got power now.’
The shut ers clat ered down as a smal motor beside the door whined.
The old man took a moment to compose himself, to try to make sense of what he’d seen, and what he may yet see before the night was through. The shut ers clat ered down and the whining motor was silent.
‘Al right,’ he said presently. ‘Al right, so this means your friend and the cloned girl … they’ve been successful. They’ve kil ed those freaks in the past. So that means no reptile hominids.’ He nodded as he talked. ‘Al right … I get that. I understand that.’
get that. I understand that.’
‘Cartwright,’ interrupted Maddy.
‘And … and Forby’s alive now, because … because …’
His eyes narrowed as he tried to make sense of things.
‘Because what happened … didn’t happen. No reptile monsters means he couldn’t have been at acked. But then that’s just crazy … that doesn’t make any … I mean … I actual y saw that thing rip his …’
He was rambling.
‘Cartwright,’ said Maddy again. ‘Listen to me, you need to hear something.’
‘… and he was dead.’ He turned to look at the oor. Halfway across, a pool of blood had congealed. Forby’s blood. ‘I mean … there! Look! It’s his blood! He was –’
‘Cartwright!’
The old man’s confused eyes darted from the blood back to Maddy.
‘This new reality is stil wrong,’ she said. ‘This reality with you and Forby and men outside and a helicopter buzzing overhead and your secret agency. It’s al wrong too. This is something else that should never have happened.’
‘What?’ His face creased with confusion.
‘Your life,’ said Sal. ‘Should be a very di erent one.’
‘In our timeline … in the correct timeline, you’ve lived a di erent life to this.’ Maddy tried appealing to him with a friendly smile. ‘Perhaps even a much bet er life … I dunno, with children, grandchildren?’
‘I’m not married!’ he snapped. ‘I don’t have children!’
‘I’m not married!’ he snapped. ‘I don’t have children!’
‘But, see, that’s what I’m saying –’
‘This agency is my wife! This secret! This secret! Time travel! It’s my secret. I know things that even our president doesn’t. I know time travel’s already happening! That’s what I’m married to! This … this knowledge! That’s my life!’ He raised his gun again and aimed at the frown between Maddy’s eyes. ‘And you’re not going to take that away! Do you hear? NO ONE IS GOING TO TAKE THAT
FROM ME!’
CHAPTER 77
1941, Somervel County, Texas
Liam spot ed them further up the river, two boys. One splashing around in the water, the other perched on a shelf of rock, sheltering from the scorching hot sun in a cool nook of shade.
Neither had seen him yet. His rst instinct had been to cal out to them, to nd out what they’d been doing so far today … to ask them if they’d found anything interesting. But then if they hadn’t yet, his intrusion on their day might alter what they did; change the sequence of events for today, and they might not make their discovery. So he decided to lie low and watch. He hunkered down in the shade of a yew tree and waited.
An hour passed, another, and another. The sun was wel past midday, the shadows slowly shifting and lengthening. He checked his watch again. The countdown was tel ing him he had less than two hours to go. He was beginning to wonder whether he was watching the wrong two boys, and perhaps another several hundred yards up the river two di erent lads were right now cooing and marvel ing over some incredible fossil writing they’d just discovered. Then the boy on the rock ledge cal ed out something.
‘Saul!’
‘Saul!’
‘What?’
He couldn’t quite make out what the lad on the ledge said next, but from where he was he could see the boy was turning something over and over in his hand. The boy in the water, Saul, didn’t seem particularly interested, content to continue paddling around in aimless circles. The other, frustrated at his companion’s lack of interest, suddenly leaped o the ledge and into the river, swimming across to join him in the shal ows. He showed Saul what he had in his ha
nds, and among a garble of exchanged words Liam made out two distinct ones: look and message. That’s it, then!
He pul ed himself up, grimacing at the stab of pins and needles in his feet, and made his way towards them. ‘Hey there, lads!’ he cal ed out.
Both of them turned to look at him. ‘Hey there!’ he said again, trying to sound as friendly as possible and not frighten them o . But as he drew closer he could see both of them regarded him warily.
‘Hey … it’s al right, now. I’m not going to eat you. Just saying hel o is al I’m doing.’
‘Ma says we cain’t talk to no strangers, mister,’ said the boy holding the rock.
Liam drew up a few yards short of them. He hunkered down on his haunches and o ered them a friendly smile.
‘Wel now, my name’s Liam, Liam O’Connor. So I suppose I’m no longer a stranger.’
Both boys nodded at the unfailing logic of that. Both boys nodded at the unfailing logic of that.
‘I’m Saul. This here’s m’ brother Grady.’
Saul looked at him. ‘You sound funny,’ he said. ‘An’ you got strange clothes. Where you from?’
‘Ireland,’ said Liam.
The boy looked at his face curiously. ‘What’s wrong with you, mister?’
Liam shrugged, bemused by the odd question. ‘Nothing’s wrong with me.’
‘You sick or something?’
He real y didn’t have the time for this. ‘No, I’m perfectly ne.’ He gestured at the rock Grady was trying to keep from his prying eyes. ‘What’s that you got there, lad?’
Grady hid the rock behind his back defensively. ‘Ain’t nothin’.’
‘Oh, come on.’ He inched a lit le closer. ‘Is it money?
Did you nd some money up there?’
‘No.’ Grady shook his head warily. ‘Didn’t nd no money.’
‘It’s just some words on a stupid stone,’ said Saul.
‘Somebody made a message on a stone.’
Liam o ered them a look of mild interest. ‘Real y? How interesting. Can I see?’
Grady shook his head. ‘It’s mine.’
If he’d been a bit smarter about this, if he’d thought ahead, he’d have brought something to trade – a cool toy, a pack of basebal cards, a bag of sweets or something, even some …
Of course. He suddenly remembered he had on him Of course. He suddenly remembered he had on him something way bet er than any of those. Something either boy couldn’t fail to be entranced by. ‘Hang on,’ he said, digging into the thigh pocket of his tat ered shorts. It was in there somewhere stil . He’d … ah, his ngers found the sharp edge. A moment later he pul ed out a four-inch-long shhook-shaped object. He held it out in front of him and their eyes widened. ‘It’s a claw,’ said Liam. ‘A real dinosaur claw.’
Saul’s and Grady’s jaws dropped open synchronously as four young eyes admired the vicious-looking nicks along the curved edge of the claw.
‘See, I just found it this morning, up the river, so I did. I heard you can nd al sorts of fascinating old things along this river. Want to hold it?’
Both their heads nodded vigorously.
‘We could swap,’ said Liam. ‘You can take a look at my claw … and I’l look at that message stone of yours.’
‘Sure,’ said Grady quickly, the passing fascination with his curious nd more than trumped by the four-inch glistening claw dangling from Liam’s ngers. He passed his rock over without another look at it. ‘Message don’t make no sense to me anyways.’
He reached out for the claw.
‘Careful, it’s quite sharp,’ said Liam.
Grady took it o Liam and then hunched over, turning his back on his brother.
‘Hey! Grady, lemmesee too.’
Grady shook his head. ‘My stone, my rst look-see.’
Grady shook his head. ‘My stone, my rst look-see.’
‘Aw, come on, lemmesee! Lemmesee!’
Liam found a boulder nearby and let himself sti y down on to it, ignoring their squabbling. As he turned the at nugget of dark slate over in the palm of his hand, his heart silently skipped a beat.
Jay-zus … there you are again. After al this time. My silent messenger.
There it was, his own handwriting, reversed and faintly embossed with web-thin ridges and grooves of rock compressed and preserved by time.
‘You’re right,’ he said, looking up from the rock, ‘the words make no sense at al , do they?’ But Grady wasn’t listening. He was entranced by the vicious-looking claw and too busy fending o Saul’s grabbing hands.
‘It’s just a load of gibberish,’ he said, a knowing halfsmile spread across his face.
‘Wanna swap, mister?’ asked Grady. ‘My stone for your claw?’
Liam shrugged as casual y as he dared. ‘I dunno … my claw’s a pret y good nd an’ al –’
‘Please …!’ The boy dug deep into the pockets of his own trousers and produced a wooden yo-yo. ‘I’l throw this in for extra!’
Liam made a show of interest in the toy. He’d had one just like it back in Cork: large, cumbersome and one he’d never managed to get on with.
‘Wel … al right, then, I suppose. Yo-yo as wel , you’ve got yourself a deal.’
got yourself a deal.’
They exchanged a solemn nod in silence – a deal o cial y sealed – and then Liam picked himself wearily up, for some reason feeling as old as the hil s, and politely bade farewel . But both boys were already stuck back in a heated debate about the rights of access to the claw, and who was going to hold it al the way home.
He picked his way back along the shingle of the riverbank, through sliding, clacking wet pebbles, running his ngers across those faint embossed lines and his eyes looking for that smal cairn of stones.
CHAPTER 78
2001, New York
Sal felt it again, the early ripples, the faintest sensation of dizziness. But it looked like no one else had felt it. Cartwright stil had his gun on Maddy.
‘This … this is my life. This world. This reality!’
‘Y-you have to step outside now … rejoin your men,’
replied Maddy rmly.
Sal was impressed with her calm, her cool in the face of his wavering gun.
The old man shook his head and laughed. ‘What?
You’re expecting me to just walk away from this? The greatest discovery in the history of mankind … and what? I just walk out into that backstreet and try to forget about it?
’ Sal glanced at the other two kids. They met her gaze; eyes exchanging a shared imperative.
We’ve got to do something.
‘Listen!’ cut in Maddy. ‘If the wave comes and goes while you’re in here … y-you’l be left behind. It’l rewrite the present without you –’
He smiled. ‘Oh … I think I could live with that, Maddy. In fact, I’ve been waiting a long, long time for something like –’
like –’
Her eyes narrowed. ‘This isn’t about state security any more, is it?’
He shrugged. ‘Al right, yes! And why not? This thing …
this time machine … it’s a boy’s dream! It’s a man’s dream!
Mankind’s dream, goddammit! To travel anywhere, to any time, to see it al . To see things no other human wil ever see!’‘It’s not a toy, Cartwright. You know you … you just can’t think of it that w-way.’
‘Oh, right! You … some snot-nosed teenager and her buddies … you’re to be entrusted instead, are you? You’re the guardians of time, huh?’
Sal glanced at the others again, then took a hesitant step towards the old man. She looked to see if the other two were going to do likewise. Laura remained where she was, trembling, face ashen. She shook her head. Too frightened. Edward, however, took a silent step forward along with Sal.She had no idea what she intended to do – make a grab for the gun?
Oh God, the thought made her knees wobble.
‘I was selected!’ replied Maddy. ‘I didn’t freakin’ want this, Cartw
right! Jesus! In fact, I didn’t have much of a freakin’ choice at al !’
The old man shrugged. ‘Guess what? I don’t real y care.’
He stepped towards her, across snaking cables. ‘This is what I want. And I’ve spent my life waiting for it. Preparing for it.’
Preparing for it.’
Sal noticed something blinking on one of the monitors.
‘I’m an old man,’ he continued, stepping on to concrete oor in the middle of the archway, clear of any cables that could trip him up. Al the while the aim of his gun remained resolutely on Maddy. ‘My whole life, my whole adult life, has been leading towards this moment. And I’ve known for so many years that a time machine was going to arrive under this bridge, in this archway, on September tenth, 2001.’ He sighed. ‘Can you imagine what knowing about something like that does to you? Knowing that near the end of your natural life … something truly wonderful is going to happen.’ He shook his head. ‘And what?’ He laughed drily. ‘You’re tel ing me to just forget about it?
Just walk away and forget about it?’
Over Maddy’s shoulder Sal could see the blinking cursor in Bob’s dialogue box. He was trying to tel Maddy something. A warning of the impending time wave?
‘The things I’ve wanted to see, Maddy Carter … the things I’ve dreamed of seeing over the last fteen years, the destruction of Pompei , the fal of Atlantis, the cruci xion of Christ … the bat le of Bunker Hil , George Washington crossing the Delaware, Lincoln giving his Get ysburg address! The arrival of Columbus …’ His rheumy old eyes were alive with naive wonder. ‘My God! The impact of the K–T asteroid that ended the time of the dinosaurs! Can you imagine actual y seeing that impact for yourself?’ He shook his head. ‘How far back can I go? Do you know?’
Maddy spread her hands. ‘I … I don’t know. I –’
Maddy spread her hands. ‘I … I don’t know. I –’
‘The beginning of life on earth? The rst division of cel s?’ Cartwright seemed lost in his reverie, of the things he could see, the places he could go. Al his now for the taking.
Sal suddenly felt the hairs on her forearms stand on end, and knew it was here – the time wave. A moment later the ceiling light dimmed and ickered and they al felt it, a moment of imbalance, the oor dropping away beneath their feet. The monitors over Maddy’s shoulder al ickered and went dead. Laura cried in alarm and Edward gasped as the ceiling light ickered o , leaving them, for a moment, in complete darkness.
