The Eternal War

CHAPTER 85

2001, New Chelmsford

‘Information: the rendezvous location is two hundred and fifty-seven yards ahead of us.’

Liam stared over the wooden fence at the muddy field beyond. ‘You’re joking! … Maddy chose a pig farm?’

Bob shook his head. ‘I am not making a joke at this time.’

‘She must really hate us.’ Sal was almost retching from the overpowering odour of pig manure. ‘They are filthy animals.’

‘It’s just mud and some pigs. Come on.’

He pulled himself over the fence and landed with a glutinous splat on the other side. ‘Ah … now, it’s a bit deeper than I thought.’

The others clambered over one by one and joined him, Sal last, muttering under her breath with each sinking step through the foul-smelling mud. By the failing light of dusk they could see that the pigs in the field seemed to be congregated in a far corner — feeding time, presumably. Or perhaps it was some porcine social event going on.

‘Which direction, Bob?’

Bob pointed a finger towards a space between two long and low pig huts.

Liam led the way, squelching, until they hit some drier, firmer ground.

‘I am detecting particles.’

‘She’s probing for us,’ said Liam. ‘Hurry! She needs to know we’re here!’ He sprinted forward into the gloom towards the space between the huts. Finally there, he jumped up and down and flapped his arms about. ‘This it?’ he called back to Bob. ‘Am I in the right place?’

‘Affirmative.’

‘What on earth is the fool doing now?’ asked Lincoln, shaking his foot free of slop.

‘Motion,’ said Sal. ‘He’s trying to register on their density probe.’

They joined him between the huts a moment later as the last rays of waning light from the sun faded beyond a horizon of gently rolling hills.

‘Hey! Yoo-hoo! We’re here, Maddy!’ Liam hopped excitedly. ‘Come get us!’

Bob cocked an eyebrow. ‘You are aware she cannot hear us, Liam?’

‘I know … I’m just …’ He grinned sheepishly. ‘I’m just ready to go home, is all.’

Lincoln sat down on the edge of a water trough, undid the laces of his boots and took them off. He picked up one and began shaking out the gunk that had got inside it. ‘So, we shall be returning to the year of 1831?’

Sal nodded. ‘Taking you back home, Mr Lincoln.’

‘I see,’ he grunted. There seemed to be a shade of disappointment in that. ‘It will be an odd thing, returning to New Orleans. Returning to work as a flatboat crewman.’

She picked up his other boot, and with a stalk of hay began digging at and flicking out the mud. ‘But that is not what you’re going back to, is it?’ She offered him a friendly smile. ‘Not any more, right?’

He looked up at her. ‘You are talking about this destiny you say I have?’

‘Yes.’

‘I was a poorly educated woodsman with no money before all of this … this misadventure. When I return, I shall still be a poorly educated woodsman with no money, but one that is now smelling of pigs.’

‘No — ’ she grasped his hand — ‘no, Abraham … you have seen what I have seen. Right?’

Their eyes met for a moment.

‘This is all wrong,’ she whispered. ‘This world and … and those poor creatures, intelligent creatures, treated like objects, machines, tools. Your country, fighting itself for over a century? For what? For other countries’ goals? You … you are the reason all of this has happened.’

‘And only I can change that?’

She nodded.

‘What am I,’ he sighed, ‘but a penniless vagrant? How am I to find my way from that to president?’

‘You managed to do it,’ said Sal. She frowned. ‘Or will manage to do it. After all, you are quite stubborn, aren’t you?’

‘And quite rude, so you are,’ added Liam. ‘That’s always a help.’

‘And,’ she said, squeezing his hand, ‘you know what the right thing to do is. The right course to take with your life … no one normally has the luxury of knowing which way their life should go.’

‘You have acquired privileged knowledge of your future,’ said Bob. ‘This is a tactical advantage that you will be able to use to — ’ He stopped talking and held an arm out. ‘Liam, you should step back. I am detecting particles.’

Liam sat down on the trough beside Lincoln. ‘And not everyone gets to see all that you’ve seen, Mr Lincoln, and still get to go back to live their lives.’ He shrugged sadly. ‘Me and Sal don’t have that.’

She nodded. ‘This is what we do now. This is what we’ll always do, I suppose.’

In front of them, a portion of the darkening blue sky, dotted with the first early stars, began to tremble and squirm.

‘Oh, look,’ said Liam, brightening, ‘here’s our lift home.’