City of Shadows

Chapter 52

9 October 2001, Green Acres Elementary School, Harcourt, Ohio

‘OK. So we’re jumping to 14 December 1888. That’s a clear day and night after Liam and Rashim’s return, so we shouldn’t get any tachyon backwash.’ The boys had had a total of nine days back there fixing their new ‘home’ up, ready for their complete relocation.

‘This is how we’re going to go about it,’ said Maddy. She pointed at the PCs. ‘We can operate this displacement window on just one of those. It’s a relatively close time-stamp, just over a century away.’

‘One hundred and twelve years, nine months and — ’

‘Thanks, Becks. Like I said, just over a century — so we’re nowhere near pushing the calculative side of things. One PC will be enough. The rest we’re gonna box up and send through.’

She looked around the derelict classroom, their home for nearly three weeks. It was almost empty now. All that remained was what they’d found in there: abandoned tables and chairs. She pointed at the two squares marked in tape on the floor.

‘We’re going in pairs. Obviously. But the way I see it, we’ve got a bit of a problem with the last displacement.’

She hesitated to see whether Liam or Sal were thinking along the same lines as her. Keeping up to speed. She sighed; of course they weren’t. Liam shrugged at her to get on with it and Sal stared vacantly.

‘Right,’ she said with another sigh, ‘good to see you two are on the ball.’

Liam nodded assuredly. ‘Aye.’

She rolled her eyes, noting that Liam wouldn’t recognize a gentle prod of snark-asm if it slapped him in the face.

‘The last displacement, guys, has to transport the displacement machine itself. We can’t leave it behind. Which means a certain amount of untested risk.’ She looked at Rashim to elaborate.

‘Yes… uh… yes, you see, when we activate the last time window, we will effectively be severing the power supply to the displacement machine. In theory the heavy lifting has already been done by opening the window, so this should not, theoretically, be an issue. But — ’ he spread his hands — ‘it is untested. The interruption could cause a glitch.’

‘And if it does that?’ said Liam.

‘We could lose our machine and be stuck in 1888,’ replied Maddy.

‘The window could collapse in on itself,’ continued Rashim. ‘Or the time-stamp might deviate in location or time.’

‘Which is why someone has to go at the same time as it,’ said Maddy. ‘Go with it.’

Liam’s eyes widened. ‘You mean one of us has to run the risk of being turned inside out? Or get blended with a brick wall?’

‘Or get lost in chaos space?’ added Sal.

Maddy shook her head. ‘You won’t end up merged with it. Remember, these are separate displacement envelopes. But, if a glitch does happen and the displacement machine remains here in 2001, or — I dunno — ends up blapped ten years into the future or something, we need someone right there alongside it to destroy it. To make sure it doesn’t end up in someone else’s hands.’

‘Stuff that,’ said Liam. ‘If that happens then it happens.’

Sal shook her head. ‘I… I don’t want to do it. I don’t want to end up… lost.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Maddy replied solemnly, ‘I’m not actually asking for volunteers to go alongside the machine.’

‘Jay-zus, Maddy! Don’t be a daft idiot! We can’t do this without you.’

Incredulity on her face. She half-laughed at that. ‘I’m not frikkin’ volunteering, Liam! Do I look like a stupid moron?’

‘Then who?’ asked Sal. She looked at Rashim. ‘Not…’

He grinned. ‘I’m not a stupid moron either.’

‘Becks,’ said Maddy, settling the issue. ‘It’s Becks who’s doing it.’ She looked at the support unit sitting cross-legged beside Bob, dismayingly small and slight in contrast to him — an orange compared to a pumpkin.

Becks nodded. ‘Maddy and I have already discussed this. I am logically the most expendable team member.’

‘Expendable?’ Liam shook his head. ‘She’s not expendable… she’s…’ He studied his flapping hands for something to back that up. Then he had it. ‘She’s got that big secret in her head, so she does.’

‘We’ve also got that same secret on a hard drive, Liam. And now we know her AI is pretty stable.’ Maddy pursed her lips. ‘Despite that crush she seems to have on you… it means we can either run her mind on the network, or upload her AI into Bob if worst comes to worst and we lose her.’

‘It’s a relatively low probability,’ added Rashim assuredly. ‘I have run some calculations on this. Severing the power to the machine should have no effect.’

‘Aye, says the genius fella who beamed three hundred people seventeen years too far into Roman times.’

‘Now that was not my fault! I had to make too many guesses without any preparation! I had to — ’

Maddy waved them both silent. ‘Forget it, guys. The point is one of us has to babysit the displacement machine through the last window. And Becks is going to be the one to do it. Aren’t you?’

‘Affirmative.’

‘Like Rashim said, it’s a low probability anyway. But… if it does happen then we need her alongside to trash the machine then self-terminate so there’s nothing left for anyone, anywhere, to make use of.’

Maddy had toyed with nominating Bob, but she was pretty sure that it was unlikely that they were going to be able to grow any new support units where they were setting up base. If they did end up marooned in Victorian London forevermore then she’d rather have that big ape by their side to protect them than this small-framed female. A child. And yes, stronger than a fully grown man, but still nowhere near as lethal a weapon as Bob.

‘I want us to get this done this morning. I think we’ve pushed our luck hanging around here for weeks on end… and God knows if those support units are still out there looking for us. They’re not stupid. They’ve managed to track us down twice already.’

‘No one’ll find us here,’ said Liam. ‘Surely?’

‘There’s no knowing what sort of a breadcrumb trail we’ve left behind us. I think we’ve got very lucky so far. We don’t want to push it, right?’

Liam and Sal nodded.

‘We’ve got power-tap established and a nice new place we can call home. So, let’s pack up the last of our gear and get this thing done.’