Child of Time Page 3

  ‘So you followed me here?’ His face was cast in stark relief in the clinical light of the morgue.

  ‘Is that so bad? I was worried about you, Honoré. I needed to see you were okay. Are you okay?’ She glanced at the body on the slab. ‘Oh my...’

  Honoré put his hand on her shoulder. ‘I’m so sorry, Emily. It’s just...’

  ‘I understand.’

  ‘I’m not sure you do. This person – this cadaver – it shouldn’t be here.’

  ‘Is this one of your clients? I...’

  ‘No, Emily. What I mean is: it shouldn’t be in this time.’

  ‘Oh.’

  ‘I can see it, I can see everything.’ He didn’t like the gleam in her eyes. He could see the beginnings of excitement welling there. It was dangerous; they’d agreed enough was enough, and now it was starting all over again...

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I can see her timesnake. She’s dead, Emily, and I can still see her timesnake. And she’s been so horribly tortured.’ He turned towards the body, indicating the markings with his hand. ‘This was done while she was still alive.’

  ‘But we said we’d stop, Honoré. We said we’d give it up, that we couldn’t turn into those people.’ She didn’t sound too certain. ‘We need to think it through.’

  Like they were going to go home and discuss it over a cup of tea? Honoré suppressed a smile. He knew as well as she did that they were both already too far committed, that there was no turning back – there hadn’t been since he’d first read the newspaper article. ‘Emily. I know I haven’t been around, and I know we haven’t... talked much recently, but I really think we need to do this. I have a feeling. A feeling that something is going to happen soon. I’ve been trying to ignore it, but I can’t do it any more. This is it. Right here, right now. Give me your hand.’

  They looked each other in the eye.

  ‘Are we good?’ he asked, smiling at her. It was like the old times. Both of them animated, excited, ready for an adventure.

  She gave him her hand. ‘We’re good.’

  They turned towards the body and Honoré closed his eyes.

  Inspector Harris stepped though the doorway into the morgue’s dingy entrance hall, followed by two uniformed officers and a civilian dressed in a suit and overcoat. The civilian set about shaking out his umbrella in the corner, much to the annoyance of the old man on the desk.

  Harris approached the desk. The clerk raised an eyebrow but didn’t look up from his log book. ‘Inspector Harris, Scotland Yard. I’m here to escort Dr Morrow to the body that was excavated yesterday from the ruins by Spitalfields market. He’s to carry out a post-mortem examination this afternoon.’

  The old man looked up from his notes and chewed thoughtfully on the end of his pencil. ‘Well, sir, you’d better hurry along. That French-sounding chap and his assistant you sent along earlier, I don’t suppose they’ve finished in there yet.’

  ‘What the...?’ Harris, eyes widening, turned and bolted down the corridor. A moment later he burst into the examination room, to see nothing but the skeletal corpse of a woman and the wispy trace of a strange, blue, electrical light playing around the edges of the slab.

  The Wreckage of Time

  London 2586

  1

  The sky was a fiery hell unleashed upon the world.

  Like a bruised eyelid, it flickered over the landscape, the sun a watery eye that cast a doleful bronze glow across the shattered skyline. On the horizon, as far as the eye could see, the remnants of tall, baroque buildings littered the view, scraping at the underside of clouds that seemed pregnant with the promise of storms, and worse.

  Honoré slammed into consciousness with a start. His head was reeling, his vision momentarily narrow and tunnel-like, as if the world was closing in all around him. He fought for breath, trying desperately not to pass out. Beside him, Emily was lying unconscious on the floor, her clothes dirty and mussed by the fall and covered in a brown-red dust that seemed to cling to every surface. He had no idea where they were, but he had a strong sense of other-worldliness. He glanced around quickly, trying to ensure they were in no immediate danger. They were in the middle of some sort of square or piazza, with little or no cover to hand if things went suddenly bad. He felt nervous and edgy, fearful in a way he hadn’t been since the War. Something about the place was just wrong.

  He collected his hat from the ground a few feet away, shook the dust off it and placed it back on his head. Then he knelt carefully down beside Emily and attempted to rouse her. Her hair was loose and fanned out around her face in the dirt and, not for the first time, Honoré was taken aback by her beauty, by the quiet, serene mask that settled on her face when she slept.

  He brushed the side of her cheek with his hand, speaking her name. After a moment, she stirred her head, sighing as if waking for the first time that day, then cautiously opened her eyes. Honoré met her gaze. ‘Tough ride, huh?’

  ‘Mmmm.’ She stared past him to the strange skyline beyond. ‘Where are we?’

  ‘I’ve no idea. But we need to find shelter. This place doesn’t feel safe to me.’

  ‘Okay.’ She smiled up at him and reached out to grab hold of his outstretched arm. He lifted her up, making sure she hadn’t hurt herself during the space-time jump.

  ‘Oh my God!’ Her sudden exclamation was enough to make Honoré start. He spun around to see what had startled her. About 30 feet away, a bizarre-looking creature was gambolling through the ruins of an old building, its feet clumping loudly as it loped across the shattered stone floor. The thing appeared to be covered entirely in a thick grey hide and its facial details looked as though they had worn smooth, like the gargoyle on the side of an ancient, crumbling manor house or church. Indeed, the more Honoré studied the creature, the more it looked like exactly that – a stone gargoyle lifted wholesale from an ancient monument and somehow given life, as attested to by its glowing red eyes. Even the stubby wings on the creature’s back added to the sense that it was somehow derived from an old monument, carved like a stone homunculus. Its movements were jerky and awkward, and he thought it might have even looked funny, in a different time and place. But right now he had to think of their safety. He held his finger to his lips and gestured to Emily to remain quiet. A minute or two later and the strange creature had loped away without seeing them.

  He breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Close call.’

  ‘What the hell was that?’ Emily asked, attempting to shake the cloying red dust off her clothes.

  ‘I’ve no idea,’ replied Honoré, ‘but as crazy as it sounds, something gives me the feeling that we’re no longer on Earth...’ He gestured at the sky and surrounding landscape with a wave of his arm. The terrain was like the aftermath of some sort of Armageddon; a blasted, ruined city, thick with the accumulated detritus of years. The red dust seemed to cover every available surface, and the watery sun cast a pale bronze light over the entire scene; a perpetual, unwelcome twilight. Save for the bizarre creature they had just seen, there were no signs of life anywhere – no birds, no trees, no people.

  ‘But...’ Emily stammered, seemingly unable to continue.

  ‘It’s like some sort of war zone, but unlike anything I saw back home. Like they’ve blighted their entire world to win a war, and now there’s no one left to appreciate it anyway.’ He cleared his throat, trying to cough the dust out. He could even now feel it working its way into his clothes and shoes, prickling his eyes and his lungs. ‘Look, I’m not feeling comfortable out here, especially with that thing so close. Let’s find some cover and try to work out where we are, and what it is exactly that we’re trying to do.’

  ‘Okay, deal.’ Emily offered a half-smile, but Honoré knew that deep down she was as anxious as he was about the whole scenario. The first time they had travelled together in months, and already things seemed to have taken a turn for the worse
. What if they could never get home from this place? He couldn’t get the thought out of his mind. On the one hand he had learned that he was able to read the timesnakes of dead people – or at least, those of dead displaced people – and on the other he had to deal with the fact that he was now probably stranded on another planet with no obvious way to get home. He wished for a moment that he’d decided to stay in bed that morning after all.

  He turned to Emily and indicated a direction heading away from the path the strange gargoyle creature had taken. ‘I vote we go that way.’

  Emily nodded. ‘Fine by me.’

  ‘Come on then. We’re not going to get anywhere standing around here.’ Honoré folded his damp coat over his arm and set off through the ruins of the unfamiliar city, his feet raising small clouds of the red dust in his wake.

  After about an hour of picking their way through the rubble, Honoré was starting to think that his initial conclusions about their destination were wide of the mark. The ruined streets seemed incredibly old, but nevertheless incredibly human in their construction The buildings were certainly all of a size suitable for human habitation, and while the place seemed deserted now, he was starting to believe that humans had once lived here. He’d never been to an alien planet, but the Earth of the far future that he had visited with the help of Sanfeil, one of the inhabitants of that time[2], had seemed so other-worldly that it might as well have been one. Despite this, he’d always assumed in the back of his mind that every aspect of an alien world would be spectacularly unfamiliar: different types of buildings, different colours, different sizes. Not to mention different life-forms. Maybe that’s what the gargoyle-creature they’d seen earlier was.

  An answer of sorts presented itself a few minutes later when they came across an old billboard lying in the crumbled remnants of a building. It was difficult to see in the strange, almost-sepia half-light, but when he brushed away the dust with his sleeve, he could just about make it out. The picture appeared to show a beach scene, with children playing in the cool, azure waves as their parents looked on from the golden sand of the beach itself. The sun was streaming down on them, lighting up their bronze skin, as they toasted each other with glasses full to the brim with sparkling wine. The legend read: ‘You could be here tomorrow with trans-mat!’ It was sickly-sweet, but definitely human in origin.

  Honoré called Emily over to see. She shuffled over from where she’d been exploring on the other side of the road and clambered up onto the pile of stones where Honoré was perched. From this vantage point they had a great view over the tops of the ruined buildings and out across the blasted landscape of the city.

  He showed her the billboard. ‘Do you think we’re on some sort of colony world? A place where humans came after they had left the Earth? It would make sense – look, the sign’s written in English.’

  ‘Honoré?’

  ‘Not sure what happened though. Must have been some sort of war. The place is a deserted shell. No-one’s lived here for many years.’ He stroked his beard thoughtfully.

  ‘Honoré?’

  ‘I guess we should just keep moving. Hopefully, we’ll find somewhere safe to spend the night. I guess we could just...’

  ‘Honoré!’

  He glanced up at Emily.

  ‘We’re not on a colony world.’

  He frowned. ‘How do you know?’

  ‘Because I’m looking at Big Ben.’ Her face was as white as a sheet.

  Honoré followed her gaze. The remnants of London’s once great clock tower stood proudly on the horizon, its face shattered, the long arm missing, its tower half splintered away as if something had crashed into the side of it long ago and it had never been repaired. It was ghostly, a shimmering apparition in the distance, and Emily and Honoré stood in stunned silence whilst they tried to take it in.

  ‘We’re still in London.’ Honoré’s voice was barely a whisper. ‘Where have all the people gone?’

  ‘Oh, Honoré.’ Emily’s voice cracked in reply. ‘Something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. It’s just so...’

  Honoré put his arm uncertainly around her, unsure what he could say that would make her feel any different. Inside, his mind was reeling at the thought of all those people, the whole of London, gone. He pulled her close, as much to comfort himself as to comfort her. If this was the future, how could they just stand by and let it happen?

  2

  ‘How can you say that?’

  Honoré sounded exasperated. ‘Emily, you’ve seen it with your own eyes! We’ve got to do something. I’m not prepared to just sit here and wait for an opportunity to try to get home. There must be something we can do, something that will stop this awful place ever coming into existence. It can’t be inevitable that things will end up this way.’

  ‘But we agreed. We agreed we wouldn’t become those people. We wouldn’t meddle with time.’ She knew she was losing the argument, and in truth, she’d already made up her mind. But a small part of her wanted to test Honoré’s resolve, to be sure he really was as committed as he seemed. Somehow she knew that he had to be there for her, that without him, she couldn’t do whatever it was they were here to do. Because they were here to do something – of that she was certain.

  ‘This is different.’ Honoré was determined. ‘I can’t explain why, but it is. This place shouldn’t exist. I can feel it in my bones. Trust me. We have to find a way to put it right.’

  They were sitting by the side of the road, their still-damp clothes now almost completely caked in the red dust, trying to decide what to do next. They’d continued wandering around for an hour or two after seeing the wreckage of Big Ben in the distance, and had so far detected no signs of human – or animal – habitation.

  ‘Okay. Say I was to go along with this. Where would we start?’ Emily’s face broke into a smile. Honoré looked visibly relieved, and she knew she’d been right. And if he thought it was his idea, so much the better.

  ‘I guess we’d start with what we know. Big Ben?’

  ‘As good a place as any.’ She wondered what other London landmarks still remained.

  Honoré climbed to his feet, dusting his hands. Then, without warning, he bolted into the shell of a nearby building, some sort of office complex or abandoned hotel. The frontage of the structure was almost completely missing and an assortment of furniture had spilled out onto the road. He hissed at Emily over his shoulder to follow.

  A moment later she was by his side, ducking low behind a row of overturned desks, gasping for breath. ‘What... ?’

  ‘Shhh!’ He pointed out at the street.

  Another of the strange gargoyle-like creatures was lumbering through the rubble, loping around as if searching for something, or someone. It made a rasping, grating noise as it moved – the sound of stone grating against stone. When it reached the side of the road, it cocked its head to one side and flexed its strange, stony wings. Emily was sure it was listening out for them, as though it had sensed their presence nearby.

  Honoré motioned to her to lean closer and spoke in hushed tones. ‘Stay down. I’m going to get a better look.’

  She nodded, careful not to make any sound. There was something monstrously evil about the beasts, and she had no inclination to investigate further herself, so she watched as Honoré edged slowly forward and risked a glance around the side of one of the broken desks they were using as cover.

  The creature was about 20 feet away, across the foyer of the building and out on the other side of the street. It looked similar to the one they’d seen when they’d first arrived, but subtly different. It reminded Emily of a winged goblin or demon, but its features were barely distinguishable. Its face was worn almost completely smooth, and she wondered how it was able to see with no eyes. Its arms and legs were crooked and it moved with a slow, deliberate gait on all fours, as if it were propelling itself along on limbs that had never been designed for mo
vement. Moss had grown up around its lower body and spread in patches over its torso, giving the impression that the thing had been stationary for some time and had only recently taken to stalking the streets. What had at first seemed to be thick, grey hide now looked more like chiselled stone, as if the creature – or whatever it actually was – had been carved from solid rock. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more she became convinced that it really was an old religious statue that had somehow been animated. The very thought of it sent a shiver along her spine. Gargoyles were supposed to ward off evil spirits, weren’t they? Not turn into them.

  The thing continued to stand at the side of the road, patiently waiting for any signs of movement. Honoré glanced back at her. Her view of the street outside was hampered by a large supporting pillar, although this did at least afford her additional cover from the strange monster. She considered shuffling over to join Honoré, not wanting to be physically separated from him in this strange place. But he waved her down, and the creature shifted suddenly, sensing his movements. It raised its arm and flicked its wrist in their direction. There was a sudden spark, and the desk in front of Honoré simply disappeared.

  Honoré looked shocked. The thing had just pointed at an inanimate object and made it vanish into thin air. His jaw hung slack with disbelief. There was now nothing between him and the gargoyle, and Emily saw a look of alarm cross his face. Eyes not leaving the figure, she reached behind her and groped in the debris until her hand curled over what felt like a lump of metal. She pulled it towards her and, in a single movement, lifted and hurled it across the space, away from where Honoré was standing.

  There was a bang from the other side of the foyer as the object hit the wall. As she’d hoped, the creature tracked the sound with its unseeing eyes. But in doing so, it obviously deduced her position. A few seconds later, her cover was well and truly blown, as the desk behind which she’d been crouched vanished in a second shower of sparks. Now they were both exposed. She met Honoré’s eyes and wondered which of them the beast would attack first. Maybe the other would be able to get away? But then what? Alone, there was no way out of this time, whenever it was. They needed to be a pair.