The Doomsday Code

CHAPTER 22

2001, New York

The three of them stared in silence at the wavering image in the middle of the floor.

‘Is that … is that sky I’m seeing there?’ said Adam, squinting at the shimmering mirage. It looked like the flickering reflection one might see staring down a dark well: a dancing, glinting, shifting reflection that hinted more than showed things.

‘Yes,’ said Maddy. ‘And that looks like a field or something.’

‘Good God!’ he whispered. ‘So I’m seeing a field and — and … the actual sky! From nine hundred years ago!’

‘But no Liam and support units,’ said Sal.

‘OK,’ Maddy said, stepping back to the desk and hitting a button. ‘It’s been open long enough. They must have decided to overnight it there.’

The portal puffed out of existence.

‘I hate it when this happens,’ said Maddy. ‘I wish they could just drop us a line and let us know what they’re up to.’ She tapped the desk mic to wake up the version of Bob’s AI installed on the computer system. ‘Bob?’

› Yes, Maddy.

‘Begin recharge for the twenty-four-hour window.’

› Affirmative.

Adam joined her. ‘But you said there is a way for them to communicate? What did you call it again?’

‘A drop-point document.’

‘That’s it. So why don’t we tell them to use the Voynich? You know … if they manage to find it?’

‘No.’ She shook her head. ‘Can’t.’ She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose. ‘You’ve cracked it, someone else might. And, anyway, if another team are using it and we start overwriting their messages with ours, who knows what chaos that’ll cause.’

‘All right, then,’ he said. ‘What about gravestones?’

Both Sal and Maddy looked at him. ‘Uh?’

‘Well … not exactly a gravestone as such, but it’s in the graveyard at the back of Kirklees Priory.’

‘What is?’ asked Sal.

‘Inscribed masonry. There are dozens that date back to the building of the priory. You can find them if you dig around a bit.’

‘What, you’re saying I send us over to England and we snuffle around some cemetery — ’

‘No need,’ he replied. ‘I’ve been there. I went there years ago, after all that Voynich publicity died down. I wanted to know what was so important about Kirklees. So I went and checked it out for myself. There’s not much to see there, of course. The old priory building, and a gated orchard, which is all bloody brambles and stinging nettles. But I did uncover several slabs of masonry, some of them inscribed with Latin. They’re grave markers, knocked over or fallen but, you know, still intact — and you can still read the lettering. I photographed some of them.’

Maddy laughed. ‘And what? You’re suggesting they carve mission updates for us?’

He shrugged. ‘That would work, wouldn’t it? If carving a message in a stone causes one of your time waves, then surely the slight change in history would change the content of the photos I took?’ He looked from Maddy to Sal and back to Maddy again. ‘Or am I getting this all wrong?’

Maddy stared at him silently for a moment before finally snapping her fingers. ‘Yes … yes, I guess that could work!’ She glanced quickly at Sal. ‘If … we need it. But you know what? I really don’t plan to lose Liam in history again. Not this time.’ She looked at a display window showing the displacement machine’s charge progress bar.

‘Thirty minutes and we’ll open the portal again. I’m sure they’ll be right there waiting for us.’