He did not know how grossly he had underestimated her.
‘Mr Ashton,’ she began, ‘let us not waste time. I know who you are and I have work for you. Here are my credentials.’
She opened a large, stylish handbag and extracted a thick bundle of notes.
‘You may regard this,’ she said, ‘as a sample.’
Ashton caught the bundle as she tossed it carelessly toward him. It was the largest sum of money he had ever held in his life – at least a hundred fivers, all new and serially numbered. He felt them between his fingers. If they were not genuine, they were so good that the difference was of no practical importance.
He ran his thumb to and fro along the edge of the wad as if feeling a pack for a marked card, and said thoughtfully, ‘I’d like to know where you got these. If they aren’t forgeries, they must be hot and will take some passing.’
‘They are genuine. A very short time ago they were in the Bank of England. But if they are of no use to you throw them in the fire. I merely let you have them to show that I mean business.’
‘Go on.’ He gestured to the only seat and balanced himself on the edge of the table.
She drew a sheaf of papers from the capacious handbag and handed it across to him.
‘I am prepared to pay you any sum you wish if you will secure these items and bring them to me, at a time and place to be arranged. What is more, I will guarantee that you can make the thefts with no personal danger.’
Ashton looked at the list, and sighed. The woman was mad. Still, she had better be humoured. There might be more money where this came from.
‘I notice,’ he said mildly, ‘that all these items are in the British Museum, and that most of them are, quite literally, priceless. By that I mean that you could neither buy nor sell them.’
‘I do not wish to sell them. I am a collector.’
‘So it seems. What are you prepared to pay for these acquisitions?’
‘Name a figure.’
There was a short silence. Ashton weighed the possibilities. He took a certain professional pride in his work, but there were some things that no amount of money could accomplish. Still, it would be amusing to see how high the bidding would go.
‘I think a round million would be a very reasonable figure for this lot,’ he said ironically.
‘I fear you are not taking me very seriously. With your contacts, you should be able to dispose of these.’
There was a flash of light and something sparkled through the air. Ashton caught the necklace before it hit the ground, and despite himself was unable to suppress a gasp of amazement. A fortune glittered through his fingers. The central diamond was the largest he had ever seen – it must be one of the world’s most famous jewels.
His visitor seemed completely indifferent as he slipped the necklace into his pocket. Ashton was badly shaken; he knew she was not acting. To her, that fabulous gem was of no more value than a lump of sugar. This was madness on an unimaginable scale.
‘Assuming that you can deliver the money,’ he said, ‘how do you imagine that it’s physically possible to do what you ask? One might steal a single item from this list, but within a few hours the Museum would be solid with police.’
With a fortune already in his pocket, he could afford to be frank. Besides, he was curious to learn more about his fantastic visitor.
She smiled, rather sadly, as if humouring a backward child.
‘If I show you the way,’ she said softly, ‘will you do it?’
‘Yes – for a million.’
‘Have you noticed anything strange since I came in? Is it not – very quiet?’
Ashton listened. My God, she was right! This room was never completely silent, even at night. There had been a wind blowing over the roof tops; where had it gone now? The distant rumble of traffic had ceased; five minutes ago he had been cursing the engines shunting in the marshalling yard at the end of the road. What had happened to them?
‘Go to the window.’
He obeyed the order and drew aside the grimy lace curtains with fingers that shook slightly despite all attempt at control. Then he relaxed. The street was quite empty, as it often was at this time in the midmorning. There was no traffic, and hence no reason for sound. Then he glanced down the row of dingy houses towards the shunting yard.
His visitor smiled as he stiffened with the shock.
‘Tell me what you see, Mr Ashton.’
He turned slowly, face pale and throat muscles working.
‘What are you?’ he gasped. ‘A witch?’
‘Don’t be foolish. There is a simple explanation. It is not the world that has changed – but you.’
Ashton stared again at that unbelievable shunting engine, the plume of steam frozen motionless above it as if made from cotton wool. He realised now that the clouds were equally immobile; they should have been scudding across the sky. All around him was the unnatural stillness of the high-speed photograph, the vivid unreality of a scene glimpsed in a flash of lightning.
‘You are intelligent enough to realise what is happening, even if you cannot understand how it is done. Your time scale has been altered: a minute in the outer world would be a year in this room.’
Again she opened the handbag, and this time brought forth what appeared to be a bracelet of some silvery metal, with a series of dials and switches moulded into it.
‘You can call this a personal generator,’ she said. ‘With it strapped about your arm, you are invincible. You can come and go without hindrance – you can steal everything on that list and bring it to me before one of the guards in the Museum has blinked an eyelid. When you have finished, you can be miles away before you switch off the field and step back into the normal world.
‘Now listen carefully, and do exactly what I say. The field has a radius of about seven feet, so you must keep at least that distance from any other person. Secondly, you must not switch it off again until you have completed your task and I have given you your payment. This is most important. Now, the plan I have worked out is this….’
No criminal in the history of the world had ever possessed such power. It was intoxicating – yet Ashton wondered if he would ever get used to it. He had ceased to worry about explanations, at least until the job was done and he had collected his reward. Then, perhaps, he would get away from England and enjoy a well-earned retirement.
His visitor had left a few minutes ahead of him, but when he stepped out onto the street the scene was completely unchanged. Though he had prepared for it, the sensation was still unnerving. Ashton felt an impulse to hurry, as if this condition couldn’t possibly last and he had to get the job done before the gadget ran out of juice. But that, he had been assured, was impossible.
In the High Street he slowed down to look at the frozen traffic, the paralysed pedestrians. He was careful, as he had been warned, not to approach so close to anyone that they came within his field. How ridiculous people looked when one saw them like this, robbed of such grace as movement could give, their mouths half open in foolish grimaces!
Having to seek assistance went against the grain, but some parts of the job were too big for him to handle by himself. Besides, he could pay liberally and never notice it. The main difficulty, Ashton realised, would be to find someone who was intelligent enough not to be scared – or so stupid that he would take everything for granted. He decided to try the first possibility.
Tony Marchetti’s place was down a side street so close to the police station that one felt it was really carrying camouflage too far. As he walked past the entrance, Ashton caught a glimpse of the duty sergeant at his desk and resisted a temptation to go inside to combine a little pleasure with business. But that sort of thing could wait until later.
The door of Tony’s opened in his face as he approached. It was such a natural occurrence in a world where nothing was normal that it was a moment before Ashton realised its implications. Had his generator failed? He glanced hastily down the street and was reassured by t
he frozen tableau behind him.
‘Well, if it isn’t Bob Ashton!’ said a familiar voice. ‘Fancy meeting you as early in the morning as this. That’s an odd bracelet you’re wearing. I thought I had the only one.’
‘Hello, Aram,’ replied Ashton. ‘It looks as if there’s a lot going on that neither of us knows about. Have you signed up Tony, or is he still free?’
‘Sorry. We’ve a little job which will keep him busy for a while.’
‘Don’t tell me. It’s at the National Gallery or the Tate.’
Aram Albenkian fingered his neat goatee. ‘Who told you that?’ he asked.
‘No one. But, after all, you are the crookedest art dealer in the trade, and I’m beginning to guess what’s going on. Did a tall, very good-looking brunette give you that bracelet and a shopping list?’
‘I don’t see why I should tell you, but the answer’s no. It was a man.’
Ashton felt a momentary surprise. Then he shrugged his shoulders. ‘I might have guessed that there would be more than one of them. I’d like to know who’s behind it.’
‘Have you any theories?’ said Albenkian guardedly.
Ashton decided that it would be worth risking some loss of information to test the other’s reactions. ‘It’s obvious they’re not interested in money – they have all they want and can get more with this gadget. The woman who saw me said she was a collector. I took it as a joke, but I see now that she meant it seriously.’
‘Why do we come into the picture? What’s to stop them doing the whole job themselves?’ Albenkian asked.
‘Maybe they’re frightened. Or perhaps they want our – er – specialised knowledge. Some of the items on my list are rather well cased in. My theory is that they’re agents for a mad millionaire.’
It didn’t hold water, and Ashton knew it. But he wanted to see which leaks Albenkian would try to plug.
‘My dear Ashton,’ said the other impatiently, holding up his wrist. ‘How do you explain this little thing? I know nothing about science, but even I can tell that it’s beyond the wildest dreams of our technologies. There’s only one conclusion to be drawn from that.’
‘Go on.’
‘These people are from – somewhere else. Our world is being systematically looted of its treasures. You know all this stuff you read about rockets and spaceships? Well, someone else has done it first.’
Ashton didn’t laugh. The theory was no more fantastic than the facts.
‘Whoever they are,’ he said, ‘they seem to know their way around pretty well. I wonder how many teams they’ve got? Perhaps the Louvre and the Prado are being reconnoitred at this very minute. The world is going to have a shock before the day’s out.’
They parted amicably enough, neither confiding any details of real importance about his business. For a fleeting moment Ashton thought of trying to buy over Tony, but there was no point in antagonising Albenkian. Steve Regan would have to do. That meant walking about a mile, since of course any form of transport was impossible. He would die of old age before a bus completed the journey. Ashton was not clear what would happen if he attempted to drive a car when the field was operating, and he had been warned not to try any experiments.
It astonished Ashton that even such a nearly certified moron as Steve could take the accelerator so calmly; there was something to be said, after all, for the comic strips which were probably his only reading. After a few words of grossly simplified explanation, Steve buckled on the spare wristlet which, rather to Ashton’s surprise, his visitor had handed over without comment. Then they set out on their long walk to the Museum.
Ashton, or his client, had thought of everything. They stopped once at a park bench to rest and enjoy some sandwiches and regain their breath. When at last they reached the Museum, neither felt any the worse for the unaccustomed exercise.
They walked together though the gates of the Museum – unable, despite logic, to avoid speaking in whispers – and up the wide stone steps into the entrance hall. Ashton knew his way perfectly. With whimsical humour he displayed his Reading Room ticket as they walked, at a respectful distance, past the statuesque attendants. It occurred to him that the occupants of the great chamber, for the most part, looked just the same as they normally did, even without the benefit of the accelerator.
It was a straightforward but tedious job collecting the books that had been listed. They had been chosen, it seemed, for their beauty as works of art as much as for their literary content. The selection had been done by someone who knew his job. Had they done it themselves, Ashton wondered, or had they bribed other experts as they were bribing him? He wondered if he would ever glimpse the full ramifications of their plot.
There was a considerable amount of panel-smashing to be done, but Ashton was careful not to damage any books, even the unwanted ones. Whenever he had collected enough volumes to make a comfortable load, Steve carried them out into the courtyard and dumped them on the paving stones until a small pyramid had accumulated.
It would not matter if they were left for short periods outside the field of the accelerator. No one would notice their momentary flicker of existence in the normal world.
They were in the library for two hours of their time, and paused for another snack before passing to the next job. On the way Ashton stopped for a little private business. There was a tinkle of glass as the tiny case, standing in solitary splendour, yielded up its treasure: then the manuscript of Alice was safely tucked into Ashton’s pocket.
Among the antiquities, he was not quite so much at home. There were a few examples to be taken from every gallery, and sometimes it was hard to see the reasons for the choice. It was as if – and again he remembered Albenkian’s words – these works of art had been selected by someone with totally alien standards. This time, with a few exceptions, they had obviously not been guided by the experts.
For the second time in history the case of the Portland Vase was shattered. In five seconds, thought Ashton, the alarms would be going all over the Museum and the whole building would be in an uproar. And in five seconds he could be miles away. It was an intoxicating thought, and as he worked swiftly to complete his contract he began to regret the price he had asked. Even now, it was not too late.
He felt the quiet satisfaction of the good workman as he watched Steve carry the great silver tray of the Mildenhall Treasure out into the courtyard and place it beside the now impressive pile. ‘That’s the lot,’ he said. ‘I’ll settle up at my place this evening. Now let’s get this gadget off you.’
They walked out into High Holborn and chose a secluded side street that had no pedestrians near it. Ashton unfastened the peculiar buckle and stepped back from his cohort, watching him freeze into immobility as he did so. Steve was vulnerable again, moving once more with all the other men in the stream of time. But before the alarm had gone out he would have lost himself in the London crowds.
When he re-entered the Museum yard, the treasure had already gone. Standing where it had been was his visitor of – how long ago? She was still poised and graceful, but, Ashton thought, looking a little tired. He approached until their fields merged and they were no longer separated by an impassable gulf of silence. ‘I hope you’re satisfied,’ he said. ‘How did you move the stuff so quickly?’
She touched the bracelet around her own wrist and gave a wan smile. ‘We have many other powers beside this.’
‘Then why did you need my help?’
‘There were technical reasons. It was necessary to remove the objects we required from the presence of other matter. In this way, we could gather only what we needed and not waste our limited – what shall I call them? – transporting facilities. Now may I have the bracelet back?’
Ashton slowly handed over the one he was carrying, but made no effort to unfasten his own. There might be danger in what he was doing, but he intended to retreat at the first sign of it.
‘I’m prepared to reduce my fee,’ he said. ‘In fact I’ll waive all payment – in exch
ange for this.’ He touched his wrist, where the intricate metal band gleamed in the sunlight.
She was watching him with an expression as fathomless as the Gioconda smile. (Had that, Ashton wondered, gone to join the treasure he had gathered? How much had they taken from the Louvre?)
‘I would not call that reducing your fee. All the money in the world could not purchase one of those bracelets.’
‘Or the things I have given you.’
‘You are greedy, Mr Ashton. You know that with an accelerator the entire world would be yours.’
‘What of that? Do you have any further interest in our planet, now you have taken what you need?’
There was a pause. Then, unexpectedly, she smiled. ‘So you have guessed I do not belong to your world.’
‘Yes. And I know that you have other agents besides myself. Do you come from Mars, or won’t you tell me?’
‘I am quite willing to tell you. But you may not thank me if I do.’
Ashton looked at her warily. What did she mean by that? Unconscious of his action, he put his wrist behind his back, protecting the bracelet.
‘No, I am not from Mars, or any planet of which you have ever heard. You would not understand what I am. Yet I will tell you this. I am from the Future.’
‘The Future! That’s ridiculous!’
‘Indeed? I should be interested to know why.’
‘If that sort of thing were possible, our past history would be full of time travellers. Besides, it would involve a reductio ad absurdum. Going into the past could change the present and produce all sorts of paradoxes.’
‘Those are good points, though not perhaps as original as you suppose. But they only refute the possibility of time travel in general, not in the very special case which concerns us now.’
‘What is peculiar about it?’ he asked.