I had anticipated that. I reached into the backpack and lifted out Star Lad’s sigil. “If anyone needs proof, show them this.”
Arthur held his breath at the sight of it sparkling under the lights of the gym. The sigil may have been cobbled together from one of my mum’s brooches and a Christmas decoration, but it was a significant object, recognised the world over. Serge had even called it an objet d’art, which was French for “work of art”, and said it was worthy of some bloke called Fabergé who made fancy eggs worth millions of pounds, which seemed unlikely.
I placed the sigil in Arthur’s palm and he stared at it open-mouthed.
“But I’d like it back at some point.” I filled him in on the last few days, telling him about Rocketship.com and Retconite. When I’d finished I asked him again. “So can you do it? Get these made into a proper book so that it will be a bestseller and no one will buy Star Power?”
He stood up very slowly, clasped his fingers around the sigil and said in a solemn voice, “You can count on me.”
I gave a wry smile. My brother was no longer a superhero but Star Lad would fly again one more time, taking on Star Power in the final battle. On the page.
“Anything else while I’m at it?” said Arthur, though I could tell he didn’t really mean it.
I’d almost forgotten. “Yes, there is actually.” I gave him some extra instructions and waited while he wrote them down. It was crucial that he got the details right.
I noticed that Dina was biting her lip. “What’s wrong?” I said.
“I know it’s the only way, but altering history like this is dangerously unpredictable. Even if we succeed there’s no telling what the consequences will be.” She checked her watch. “We should go. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from travelling through time it’s never trust a Roman emperor. But the second thing is that you don’t hang about in someone else’s timeline a minute longer than absolutely necessary. Come on – I have just enough power left to get us back.” She clasped my hands like she had before.
I turned to Arthur. “Goodbye. See you in a year and two months.”
“If you say so,” he said, watching us in fascination. “Wait. Before you go there’s one more thing. Your book doesn’t have a title.”
“Call it The True Story of Star Lad,” I suggested.
He screwed up his face like he’d accidentally swallowed a fly or a Brussels sprout. “Tell you what, leave that with me.” He smiled. “And remember—”
“We are all the heroes of our own stories,” I finished. “Yes, you told me that already. In the future.”
“Sorry. I do say it a lot. But the funny thing is –” He held up my notebooks. “You’re actually the hero of this one.”
He clearly hadn’t read enough pages yet. “No, I’m not. My brother is.”
“Not all superheroes wear capes,” he said, and made one of those annoying knowing faces that grown-ups are prone to.
“No,” I agreed. “There’s Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Flash, Captain America, Black Panther. In fact, statistically, more superheroes don’t wear capes.”
The numbers on Dina’s watch began to turn and in seconds we were in our time bubble. Arthur waved one last time and then faded into memory.
“Fingers crossed he comes through,” I said.
Dina met my anxious gaze. “Let’s find out, shall we?”
The white light bloomed and I shut my eyes.
I blinked.
I was airborne and the world spiralled in front of me and then, with a thud, I was lying flat on my back on the ground, gazing up into an early evening sky. Flames rose at the edge of my vision and I felt a wave of heat roll over me. A hand appeared above me. It was Dina’s. I clasped it and she hauled me to my feet. We were back outside the Fulfilment Centre, which for some reason was on fire. In the distance I could hear the sound of approaching emergency vehicles.
“Did it work?” I asked, looking around.
“Well, we’ve returned at the point where we left and I don’t see any missiles,” said Dina cautiously.
It was then that I caught sight of the billboard. No longer was it plastered with a poster for Star Power. In its place was a different advertisement.
“Half-price chicken fillets at Tesco,” I muttered. I turned to Dina and hugged her, now shouting with happiness, “HALF-PRICE CHICKEN FILLETS!”
“Mon ami?”
It was Serge, of course. He was struggling to understand my excitement at the promotional offer. “They’re not advertising the book – it’s gone!” I yelled into his uncomprehending face. “That means it worked!” At least, it probably meant that my plan to stifle Talbot’s book had worked. There was one way to make sure. “Serge, what do you think about Star Power?”
“Star who?”
Yesss! He had no idea what I was talking about. I glanced at Dina for confirmation. She nodded.
We’d done it! No missiles, no Star Power, no Retconite.
So why didn’t Dina seem happier?
“We’re not out of this yet,” she said. “You’ve altered one timeline, but the only future where we can be certain that the human race defeats the machines is the one that starts with Zack and Cara going to the Billy Dark concert tonight.” She glanced at her watch. “And we have precisely ten minutes to get them there together.”
Two shapes burst out of the Fulfilment Centre’s blazing roof, shooting straight up into the sky. Retconite missiles, I thought immediately. They changed direction, levelled out and headed straight for us. As they did, I saw my mistake. They weren’t missiles.
They were superheroes.
Capes snapping in the wind, Dark Flutter and Star Lad circled us and came in for a landing.
Zack was still Star Lad!
In this timeline he hadn’t given up his powers. Something must have changed his mind. He may have been the one with superpowers, but at that moment I was so happy I felt indestructible.
My brother was holding an unconscious Cara in his arms. Her jeans were charred at the edges and her top was gently smouldering. I didn’t know anything about fashion, so I wasn’t sure if she was on fire or if that was the style. He laid her down gently on the ground.
“Glad to see you got out of there OK,” he said, glancing at me. “Quick thinking with that rotisserie grill.”
No idea. Must have been something that happened in this timeline.
Zack returned his attention to Cara and tapped a gloved hand against her cheek. “Cara?”
Her eyelids fluttered and opened. Wide brown eyes locked on to Zack’s masked face.
“Star Lad?”
Dazed, she turned to see Lara standing next to him.
“And … Flutter-girl.”
Lara clenched her fists and mumbled something rude under her breath.
Cara looked round, acknowledging each of us in turn. “Kid, French kid and new girl.” She began to cough from smoke inhalation.
“You’re safe now,” said Zack.
“What am I doing here?”
“I and my trusted associates are on a mission of utmost importance,” he declared. His language always got a bit flowery when he talked to her. “And you are vital to the enterprise.”
“I am?”
Lara rolled her eyes. “Why else do you think you were this close to being zapped by an evil toaster-headed robot?”
“I did kind of wonder…”
I was beginning to piece together the events that must have occurred in this timeline to get to this point. Without the Retconite, Servatron had evidently pursued its original goal of preventing Zack and Cara meeting at the concert. But with Zack as Star Lad he would have proven too powerful an opponent, so the AI had gone after Cara instead. Judging by the state of the Rocketship.com building S.C.A.R.F. had mounted a rescue mission.
“What happened to Servatron?” I asked.
Zack shot me a knowing look. “Let’s just say it won’t be toasting any more sliced wholemeal.”
Now was not the ti
me for unclear language. “Tell me exactly what happened,” I insisted.
“Yeah, OK.” Zack recounted the scene, complete with actions. “First, I held it at bay using my force field, then I used my telekinetic power to rewire its internals so that when it tried to launch an attack, it blew a fuse. With the AI trapped in the toaster I shot it into space.” Shielding his eyes with a hand he looked up. “Should be travelling past the Moon, right about now.”
“And while he was going one-on-one with Servatron,” said Lara, “I and my Wing Command pigeons dealt with the attack drones. It’s amazing how much damage a streak of bird poo can do to a flight-control sensor.”
Serge regarded me with puzzlement. “But you were with us at every step. So why are you talking as if you do not know any of this?”
“That’s time travel, I’m afraid,” said Dina, offering a consoling shrug in my direction. “You get used to it.”
A new sound drifted through the air; a low buzzing carried on the freshening wind. It grew louder and I looked up to see the distinctive whirling black shape of a Rocketship.com delivery drone. It thundered towards us. All Lara’s talk of attack drones had me worried.
“Get behind me!” cried Zack, taking a step forward and stretching out his arms protectively.
We lined up behind him as the drone moved closer. Had Servatron outwitted us yet again? Was this another of the sneaky AI’s counterattacks? I could see Zack preparing to launch a superpower at the incoming drone.
“Wait!” I urged him. I had a sneaking suspicion about what was going on.
The drone came to a stop less than two metres away and settled into a hover. A red scanning light leapt from its forward sensor and picked me out, dazzling my eyes as it swept up and down my face.
“Luke Parker. Recipient identified,” it announced and one grappling arm shot towards me. For a split second I thought it was about to knock my head off but then it came to a crashing halt. Clutched in the arm was a white envelope.
“Prepare for recorded gift message,” said the drone, and then in the same machine monotone it read out the message. “Hello, Luke. I hope I followed your instructions to the letter. If you’re hearing this then you’ve saved the world. So, um, well done. I never know what to write in these things. At least there isn’t one of those annoying character lim—”
I opened the envelope and Star Lad’s sigil fell into my hands. There was something else in there too, as I’d planned. “Two tickets to tonight’s Billy Dark concert.” This was the last thing I’d asked Arthur Veezat to arrange before we left him in the gym. He was half right. With Servatron out of the way, we’d saved the world today. But if the future was to turn out happily, there was one last obstacle to overcome.
I handed the tickets to my brother. “Ask her,” I whispered, nodding towards Cara.
He may have been a superhero, but at that exact moment none of his powers were helping him. He looked more terrified than when he’d faced any supervillain. Finally, taking a deep breath he said, “Cara Lee, will you go with me to the concert tonight?”
Something in the atmosphere must have got to her, and it wasn’t only the smoke. She seemed to sense the significance of the moment.
“Star Lad, did you just ask me on a date?”
“Oh,” said Zack, touching his face and realising how it must look to her. “The mask.”
It felt like ages ago when Zack had insisted that when he ask Cara to the concert he wanted her to say yes not for any greater reason than because she liked him.
He lifted his mask.
“You!” Cara gasped and stumbled, grabbing hold of me to steady herself. “You’ve got this,” she muttered to herself. “You’re a strong, independent young woman and you can handle anything.”
“I’m sorry,” Zack apologised. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
She waved him away. “’S all right. Just haven’t had a boy remove his mask for me before.” She blinked several times, then peered at him again, just to make sure. “Zack?”
“Hi.”
“Zack Parker who lives two doors down from me?” I could see her mind flailing at the revelation. “I always had a feeling there was something mysterious about you. Now I see the total dork persona was just a clever facade.”
Zack looked a bit miffed by that, but I had to agree with Cara.
“Uh, don’t want it to feel like anyone’s being rushed or anything,” said Dina, “but the concert starts in four minutes.”
“She hasn’t said yes,” I pointed out.
“That’s because she’s already going with Matthias the Viking,” said Lara.
Cara rounded on her sister with an interrogating stare. “How do you know about him?”
I could tell that Lara had rarely been more grateful for the mask that hid her identity. “Uhh … ummm…” she spluttered. “Superpowers?”
Cara curled her lip, weighing this up and then she accepted the explanation with a half-hearted nod. She returned her attention to Zack. “You gave up your secret identity for me. Going to this gig must be really important to you.”
“It is.”
“Matthias isn’t really much of a fan anyway,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “I think he only pretends to like Billy Dark because I do. So…”
The pause rolled on like a runaway train until Zack spoke up.
“Is that a yes?” he asked tentatively.
The corners of Cara’s mouth turned up into a vague smile. “Yes,” she said.
Zack possessed one of the greatest minds I had ever known, but I could tell that even he was struggling to process what just happened. He’d wanted this for so long. All he could do was stand there grinning like an idiot. Behind him in the distance one of the Rocketship.com storage units chose that exact moment to explode, shooting burning microwaves, blenders and various other flaming appliances into the air. Several desk fans fizzed skyward, spinning like Catherine wheels, before bursting into a hundred fiery pieces.
“It is bee-yootiful,” cooed Serge, putting an arm round Lara. She let him keep it there.
“I hope no one has any more surprises,” said Cara with a deep sigh. “Because I don’t think I can take it.”
Lara put a hand to her mouth and gave a little cough.
“Two minutes,” said Dina.
“The concert’s miles away – we’ll never make it,” said Cara. “Traffic’s going to be murder at this time.”
A small smile played about my brother’s lips. “May I?” Zack extended an arm and hovered it around her waist.
“Uh, sure,” she said doubtfully.
He wrapped the arm firmly around her and pulled her to him, then he lowered his mask. “Hold on tight.”
He bent his knees and sprang into the sky. Cara’s cry dwindled on the air as Zack rocketed them higher.
“Ohhhh. Myyyy. Go-o-o-od.”
Star Lad was so fast I calculated that they’d get there with enough time spare to buy a promotional T-shirt.
The future was in safe hands.
As they disappeared from view, a procession of emergency vehicles tore past us and squealed to a stop in front of the burning Rocketship.com building.
“One thing’s been bugging me,” I said. “Why is it on fire?”
“Alors, when Servatron sensed the impending defeat, it activated the self-destruct mechanism,” explained Serge.
I shook my head in disbelief. “Who puts a self-destruct mechanism in a Fulfilment Centre?”
“C’mon, time we were leaving,” said Dina, as a couple of police officers climbed out of their car. “We don’t want to be here when they start asking awkward questions.”
“One moment,” said Serge. His fingers were a blur and in a few seconds he had created a tiny origami unicorn. He placed it down carefully on the ground.
“What’s that for?” I asked him.
“I have decided that I need an enigmatic calling card.”
“Fair enough.”
We slipped away and headed bac
k to my house for a debriefing session. On the way there Serge insisted on stopping at the corner shop to pick up snacks. As we arrived, our schoolmate Josh Khan was just leaving, his head buried in what I saw to be the latest Arthur Veezat novel. Without Star Power to obsess over he had fixated on another author. He was so busy reading that he didn’t even notice us. To be accurate, he didn’t notice me or Serge. However, Lara was another matter – he always noticed her. She had changed back into her civilian gear. Josh stopped in his tracks.
“Hey, Lara,” he said. “Still hanging with these losers?”
“Hi, Josh,” she said, ignoring the taunt like the rest of us. “Good book?”
He nodded keenly, but then his face fell. “It’s the last one in the series. I never want it to end.”
I knew how he felt. Unusually, I experienced a pang of sympathy for him. “The best endings are the ones where you know that the characters keep having adventures even after the last page. Maybe it has that sort of ending?”
“I hope so,” said Josh a little fearfully. And with that he returned his attention to the book and walked off.
We selected our snacks and made our way to my house. As we headed along the street I told Serge and Lara about the alternate timeline. I got to the part about Zack.
“He gave up,” I said.
“Zack would never stop being Star Lad,” said Serge. “Especially not after reading your book.”
“What do you mean?”
“You wrote some very nice things about him, Luke,” said Lara. “I know that my sister means the world to me and I feel the same about her as you do about your brother, but you actually put that into words. And now they’re in print. Forever.”
There was only one natural reaction to hearing that.
“Oh bum.”
Those notebooks were my diaries. I had written down a load of embarrassing stuff I never expected anyone – especially Zack – ever to read. That’s what must have changed his mind about ditching his powers. I’d never hear the end of it. I would have to endure years of endless teasing. Another dire consequence struck me.
“So does everyone know Zack’s true identity and who we all are in real life?”
“Non,” said Serge. “In the book almost all of the names have been changed.”
My Cousin is a Time Traveller Page 16
