by Perrin Briar
35.
THE DOOR squeaked open on ancient hinges. The room inside was dusty and packed to the rafters with items. Most of it Zoe could name but there were some things she had no name for, nor idea what they were meant to do.
It was a dream world for hoarders of useless garbage, and amongst this rubble, like a bomb had gone off, was meant to lie the hope and future of this world. If that was true, this world was in bigger trouble than Zoe thought.
“Jeffrey?” Lady Maltese said out loud to the room.
The armchair where he was usually fast asleep was vacant, the depression his body had made pressed into it. The chair had been disturbed, slightly off its axis, a small coffee table knocked over, spilling a cup of tea or coffee over the tiled floor.
The rest of the room was its usual mess, of course, but it was a well-ordered chaos, the kind of space where the occupant knew where everything was, that if pushed, he could recall precisely where he’d put every object.
But there was something somehow wrong with the whole situation, as if it had been set up for their benefit. Nothing about this room felt like it had before. All the warmth had been stripped from it, and when they rounded the corner, they could see why.
Zoe’s hand went to her mouth, covering her shock. She turned back to block the kids’ view, and even the lord’s kids, but it was too late. They’d already gotten an eyeful.
Zoe turned them away in any case, and led them back toward the door, to look out the window at the regular world and the town where everything was business as usual. Zoe for one needed the air.
Each time Zoe blinked she saw another image behind her eyelids, of Jeffrey’s wrinkled hand, outstretched and reaching for something across the tiles, of his face hidden from her, pressed to the hard floor. His straggling hair, so much like Einstein’s wayward style, stuck out at odd angles. His body was twisted into a position his large frame was not used to, a yoga pose that forced the joints beyond their usual extremes.
Zoe and the others had seen a lot of death over the past couple of weeks, but it had always been in the pursuit of something, had been unavoidable. And it had always occurred in foreign and dangerous situations. This death happened in familiar settings, in a room that Zoe had been in before. She had met the old man that was now dead.
We all have a clock, Zoe thought morbidly, and none of us really know how much time we have left. To a large extent, it didn’t really matter how much time you had remaining. It was how you used that time to enjoy yourself, the quality of time, that was the most important thing.
Bryan crouched over the dead body, inspecting it.
“What happened to him?” Cassie said.
“I don’t know,” Zoe said. “I know as much as you.”
Her mind was working on overdrive, coming up with wild theories. Where these theories came from, Zoe didn’t know. Probably from a lifetime of stories and movies and TV shows, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something bad and underhanded had taken place.
It wasn’t long before Bryan came over.
“Are you all okay?” he said.
He hugged them each in turn, and gave a comforting smile to the lord’s kids.
“We’re fine,” Zoe said. “What happened to him?”
“Heart attack,” Bryan said.
“But there was blood…” Zoe said.
“He hit his head when he fell,” Bryan said. “He cut open his nose and forehead, spilling the blood over the floor.”
“That’s terrible,” Zoe said. “That he had to die alone.”
“According to the lord and lady, he was often alone,” Bryan said. “It was inevitable he would go by himself.”
“I suppose,” Zoe said.
She set the crazy theories and conjecture in her mind aside. The death had been entirely natural, though what the town was going to do without their beloved inventor, Zoe didn’t know.
He may have been a little crazy, having used his technology to make the dragon an even more deadly foe, but he had also been the light and salvation of the town’s future. How were they going to cope without him now?
36.
THE NEXT few days passed slowly. The family searched for the Passage in every nook and cranny of the world, save the caves. The dragon stayed in its hovel, not bothering to come out. No doubt it had had its fill somewhere.
As predicted, the number of bodies coming out of Lake Rebirth had trickled to a stop. Starving hungry, the monster would be forced to attack the town. It was the only food source around.
Bryan warned the lord about this, that they should maintain vigil over the trap they had set, but the town still blamed Bryan for Cynthia’s death and the lord seemed unwilling to rail against his townsfolk supporters.
Lord Maltese had installed the world’s greatest engineers and inventors in Jeffrey’s former tower. They worked hard, but couldn’t make head nor tail of his designs.
Bryan assisted them as best he could, but he was severely limited by the technology of the time. There were so many fields of expertise on the surface that it boggled the mind. He needed all of them if he was to replicate the kind of prototypes Jeffrey had designed.
Funny, that the destruction of one world could have such a devastating impact on another, and it would continue to do so. It just went to show how inextricably linked each of these independent worlds truly were.
While he was out searching for the Passage, Bryan ran Jeffrey’s inventions through his mind. He worked with the other engineers in the evenings. Though he couldn’t say he helped with the inventions much, he was able to teach the young engineers about advanced engineering.
They were empty, but hungry, receptacles, ready to absorb everything he had to tell them. It was refreshing to find such willing young minds. It opened him up to the concept of becoming a teacher one day, should they ever manage to get to the surface.
They needed to get to the caves, Bryan felt. There was nowhere more likely for the Passage to be than amongst its catacombs. But they couldn’t enter it, not until the monster was no longer there. Most likely while it was attacking the town.
He and Zoe talked long and hard about what they would do in such a situation. They decided they wouldn’t leave the town that had been so kind to them—relatively speaking—and would stand beside them and fight.
But if the fight turned against them, and it was clear the dragon was going to overpower and destroy the town, then the family would escape to the caves and take refuge, searching for the Passage.
The dragon would eventually return, the caves being its home, but they could take their time, learn the monster’s routine, and work their way through the caverns one by one until they discovered what they were looking for. It wasn’t a foolproof plan, but it was the best they had.
It wasn’t until the third evening of the third day after the inventor’s passing that a thought struck Bryan, coming at him from an unexpected angle.
The giant feasts had come to an end, the excitement of a vibrant future gone in the wind. Aaron worked with Bryan in the evenings sometimes, to help educate the engineers on subjects Bryan had no clue about—predominantly wildlife and nature. It was after one of these events, during a discussion over dinner, that Bryan had his brainwave.
“The more I learn about Jeffrey, the more I realize how incredible he truly was,” Aaron said, spearing a slice of steak with his fork. “I mean, being able to think so far ahead into the future like that, it’s remarkable. He was like Da Vinci, but with the engineering skills to back it up. He was one of a kind. There won’t have been many people like him in our history. His death was a real loss.”
“With his death went the future of our people,” Lord Maltese said. “We’ll survive, but that wasn’t what I wanted when I became lord. I wanted to do more than survive. I wanted to thrive.”
Lady Maltese put a comforting hand on her husband’s arm and gave him a supportive, tight-lipped smile.
“We’ll be all right,” she said. “You’ll see.”
“With time, you’ll piece together what the inventor had scribbled on those pieces of paper,” Zoe said.
“Time,” Lord Maltese said. “The one resource we do not have.”
Time.
There was something about that, Bryan thought. Time. He turned his head to one side and set his fork down. Zoe saw him do it, and lowered her head to whisper to him.
“Are you all right?” she said.
“Yes,” Bryan said with a frown. “Yes, I’m fine. Excuse me.”
He got up and moved for the stairs, brow knitted in deep thought. He moved up the stairs without remembering he took a single one, and went to his and Zoe’s shared room. He moved to the balcony, leaned against it, and peered out over the town.
“Time,” he said out loud.
It was ten minutes before the door opened, admitting Zoe.
“Are you all right?” Zoe said. “It’s not like you to leave before the dessert course.”
“I’m fine,” Bryan said, still distracted.
“You’re not going to work with the engineers tonight are you?” Zoe said. “You need a night off. Time to recharge your batteries.”
“Time,” Bryan said abruptly.
“What?” Zoe said.
“Time,” Bryan said. “It’s all about time.”
“What is?” Zoe said.
“The inventor,” Bryan said. “He was ahead of his time. Too far ahead. He couldn’t have known the things he knew, couldn’t have dreamed the things he did.”
“But he did,” Zoe said.
“Says who?” Bryan said.
“Says everyone in town,” Zoe said.
“But no one ever saw him making these things,” Bryan said. “No one ever saw him do much more than make vague sketches from his dreams.”
“The mind is an incredible thing,” Zoe said.
“It is,” Bryan said. “But it is limited by the time in which it exists. Da Vinci was a genius, no doubt about it. He could look at nature and extrapolate ideas based on that. But if there was no nature, he wouldn’t have had the ideas.”
“I don’t know what you’re saying,” Zoe said. “Because Jeffrey had dreams. That was his input.”
“But where do dreams come from?” Bryan said. “From our everyday lives. Input. Experiences. He couldn’t have dreamed about the things they say he did. This is the real world. Things like that don’t happen.”
“Then where did he get his ideas from?” Zoe said.
“From his own experiences,” Bryan said. “And time. He wasn’t from this time, anymore than the dragon is. He came here via a sinkhole. He was from our time.”
“If he was, why wouldn’t he just tell the locals here?” Zoe said.
“Maybe he liked to be thought of as a genius,” Bryan said. “Look at the comfortable lifestyle he has down here. All he had to do was come up with something from the surface and pass it off as his own, and then build it—if he could.”
“I don’t buy it,” Zoe said. “The inventor wasn’t that kind of person.”
“To build these things, he needed to have real engineering experience,” Bryan said. “I studied engineering and I know how difficult these things are to build armed only with ancient materials.”
“Then how did he build them?” Zoe said.
“No one ever saw him making these things, why not, if he really was an engineer?” Bryan said. “It leaves one possible explanation.”
“What?” Zoe said.
“He didn’t build them,” Bryan said. “Someone did it for him.”
“What?” Zoe said.
“Someone else down here is from the surface,” Bryan said. “And used Jeffrey as a cover. The real inventor is still alive. He’s among us.”
37.
WITH THE DRAGON growing hungrier by the day, their time was growing short. It would attack the town and harvest innocent people to sate its hunger. If Bryan wanted to test his hypothesis he needed to hurry.
He told the lord and lady there was an experiment he wished to carry out. It would help to shed light on their current situation, but that he couldn’t tell them what the test entailed.
“You want me to have the whole town take part in an experiment, an experiment you won’t tell me the purpose of?” Lord Maltese said. “Have I got that right?”
“Yes,” Bryan said. “It will take just a little of their time, but it will be worth it.”
“And you can’t tell me anything about it?” Lord Maltese said.
“No, sir,” Bryan said.
The lord paced up and down his study twice before turning to Bryan.
“How can I tell the people to do something without explaining to them what it is?” he said.
“The same as I have done with you,” Bryan said. “They trust you. They will do as you say. I want you to trust me.”
“Trust you?” Lord Maltese said.
“Yes,” Bryan said. “No one will come to any harm. This is for the benefit of the whole town. If we can get them organized, it needn’t take long.”
The lord thought about Bryan’s suggestion for ten minutes, in silence, before he nodded.
“Very well,” he said. “But it had better work.”
The church bell rang, a curious triple tap and long pause, repeated over and over. Everyone stopped working and spilled out of their homes and places of work, into the street. They walked to the castle and lined up outside.
They were told nothing about why they were there or what they were meant to do, besides line up and wait, that it would take just a few minutes, and none of them would come to any harm.
Speculation was rife. The longer they stood outside waiting, the weirder and more outlandish the theories became. Only children under fifteen were exempt from the experiment. Even the old and infirm had to take part.
The townsfolk stood outside the castle on the eastern side. They formed a long queue along the wall that wrapped around to the northern side. They hid their worry and concern behind jovial expressions. Really, they were all very nervous.
38.
LEONARD, or Lenny to his friends, was the first in line.
He worked at the tannery across the road from the castle, so he had less distance to travel. He’d always liked the fact he was so close to the castle, where he could see the comings and goings of the lord and lady. And having the guards so close always made him feel protected, not that there was ever much to fear in the town of Silene. But now it felt like a threat, having to be the first to do whatever they were there for.
The door opened, and the girl from the new family—he thought her name was Cassie—was there to welcome him inside. Only he was allowed in. The door shut behind him, causing Lenny to jump.
“Please come this way,” Cassie said.
She led him to a small room. There were guards arranged at regular intervals. A plain table sat in the middle with four boxes on it. The rest of the family stood behind the table.
“Hello,” Bryan said. “Please come in.”
Lenny realized he was shaking.
“Am I in trouble?” he said.
“Not at all,” Bryan said. “We’re just going to conduct a little test. It will only take a few minutes and won’t hurt. Please step up to the table.”
The test was over within a few minutes. Lenny studied the family’s expression to gauge whether he had performed the test well or not, but their faces were cold and emotionless. He was ushered out of the room, to the main hall. There were guards here too.
“Please don’t go anywhere,” Cassie said. “Others will be joining you shortly. There’s water and food on the table there.”
And she was gone. Lenny felt very nervous in the room alone. He eyed the guards uncertainly, before taking a seat at one of the dining tables. Within minutes, someone else entered, and though Lenny didn’t know them all that well, he was at least familiar with him, having seen him around town.
He was a street cleaner, Lenny thought, though he wasn’t certain. It was a f
riendly face, and he looked equally pleased to see Lenny too.
They didn’t talk about the test. They didn’t want to get in trouble for it. For all they knew, this might be part of the test too. But by the third and fourth people who joined them, they were ready to talk about what they’d experienced, both the similarities and differences.
The natural question became what was the test all about? Although they each had a theory, none of them knew the answer. Their own explanations were good enough for them.
As their number grew, they relaxed. There was safety in numbers. But as they would soon discover, there was one among them who it was certainly unwise to trust.
39.
IT TOOK all day, but eventually the family worked their way through each town member. Bryan was surprised to find not one person matched what they were looking for. They had a few suspects, but nothing concrete.
“Next,” Bryan said.
No one came in.
“Next!” Bryan said.
The boredom of repetition had made his temper short. Still no one came into the room. Zoe moved to the door, opened it, and peered into the corridor. Cassie spread her hands.
“That’s everyone,” she said.
“Everyone?” Bryan said. “It can’t be. Are you sure?”
“There’s no one else outside,” Cassie said.
Bryan fell back into a chair.
“After all this, we still don’t know if someone—if anyone—came from the surface,” he said.
“We have a few suspects,” Zoe said.
“No one concrete,” Bryan said.
“He must be a better actor than we thought,” Cassie said.
“There really isn’t anyone else left?” Bryan said.
Cassie shook her head.
“Then we’ve just wasted the whole town’s time without any good reason,” Bryan said. “How am I supposed to explain this to everyone? To the lord?”
