First century, Jerusalem
Foster was quite right; in the blink of an eye, there they were. They were standing in the chamber Liam had glimpsed. In front of him was the tall cylindrical structure, identical to the one he’d seen beneath the Mayan city, its smooth dark surface etched with hundreds, thousands, of indecipherable symbols. A section of the cylinder had slid open and a vertical beam of brilliant light was spilling out from it.
Liam narrowed his eyes at the overpowering glare. He turned to look at Foster. ‘So … now we’re beneath Jerusalem?’
‘Yes.’
‘Is Bob here?’
‘He will arrive when I’m ready. We sensed you entering the field first, so your colleague is being held in a waiting pattern for the moment. He is quite safe.’
Liam looked around. ‘What … what did you want to show me?’
‘Come … let’s get closer to the field.’ He beckoned Liam to step forward with him. ‘It is quite safe to approach, I assure you.’
They crossed the smooth floor until they were standing just a few feet from the intense glow of the field.
‘Chaos space … look closely at it, Liam. Tell me, what do you see?’
‘What I’ve always seen. I see white … but –’ he glanced at the old man – ‘I’ve seen other things in there.’
‘Other things? Be more precise, Liam. I know you know what’s in there.’
He stared into the churning mist before him, unsure how to describe what he’d encountered in there since the very first time he’d stepped into it. ‘Wraiths. No, people … No, not even people, the ghosts of people.’
Foster nodded. ‘Yes. And that is our dilemma. You’ve witnessed what some might call souls – the manifestation of intelligent, self-aware entities formed out of pure energy.’
They both watched the field for a moment, and as Liam’s eyes slowly adjusted to the glare he began to recognize the faint swirling patterns he’d grown used to seeing almost every time he’d passed through chaos space.
‘There are now many, many thousands of lost souls trapped in there, Liam.’
‘Who are they?’
‘They are the unfortunate ones. Most of them like you … people who were foolish enough to step through chaos space.’
‘Time travellers? But I thought there were only just a few of us –’
‘The loop, as I mentioned, has run many times. And it wasn’t just during this last one that the ability to travel through time was discovered. On one loop, a particularly disastrous one, the use of time travel proliferated; it became widely used.’ He shook his head. ‘That is why we cautioned Waldstein, why we invented a hazard … a dangerous fragility to space–time. Our greater concern was the cruelty … the cumulative horror being caused by our technology. Over time we have trapped far too many souls in this place. All of them imprisoned forever … tormented for eternity.’
‘Just now … I saw them all. I saw my friend …’
‘I know.’ He looked away from the glow for a moment, appalled. ‘Instead of carers, nurturers of an infant civilization that needs guidance, we’ve become gatekeepers of our very own manufactured Hell.’ A tear spilled down his craggy cheek. ‘In our desperation to give humanity enough chances … we’ve become guilty of inflicting an unacceptable evil upon you.’
‘Can’t you just release them?’
‘Liam. We can. We can let them have peace … by finally bringing an end to this process.’
Liam stared at the white mist, and caught the fleeting image of what might have been a tendril of smoke or what might easily have been the distorted image of a screaming face pressed up against the confines of the field, like a face pressed against condensation-fogged glass.
‘End this process? What … what do you mean by that?’
‘We turn it all off. We allow this field to collapse.’
‘And … this world?’
‘It means there will be no more loops. No more resets.’ He turned to Liam. ‘No more last chances.’
‘You’re saying this pocket place … what? It collapses too? We all vanish?’
‘No. I mean there will be no more loops. Your timeline runs from this moment onwards and you have the next two thousand years to get it right. To grow up. And that is all.’ He gazed at the swirling light. ‘In two thousand years, we return and we will have to make a final judgement. And, if by then you are still the same beautifully creative, hazardous, self-destructive race, then I’m afraid … that is that. It will be all over for you.’
‘We can be better than we are,’ said Liam. ‘Two thousand years? That’s a load of time –’
‘Liam, in the grand scheme of things, two thousand years is the blink of an eye. It is no time at all. My fear, my certainty, is that one day we’ll return and have no choice but to collapse your universe and erase every last sign that humanity ever existed.’
He smiled at Liam. ‘You know, I’ve grown fond of your race: to love your creativity, your passion. I love the few moments of enlightenment your kind have exhibited. Briefly, here and there, you’ve truly shone. You’ve shown an empathy, a species-wide capacity to lift your heads above petty tribal squabbles. But … I’m not sure this last loop will give you enough time to truly evolve your collective consciousness to a higher state of being.’
Liam understood it clearly: the dilemma. The choice. ‘If we let these souls go … then we’re down to this last chance?’
‘Yes.’
‘So … what are you going to do?’
Foster smiled again. ‘I choose you.’
‘Choose me? For what?’
‘To make that decision.’
‘Decide?! What?! Why me?’
‘Do you think for one moment I haven’t been watching you closely? You think I haven’t been following your antics all this time?’
‘Following me? I … never …’
‘I’ve been a silent passenger travelling alongside you, Liam. Ever since you first stepped into the field … I’ve been a breath away from you. Invisible. Silent. Watching. Listening.’
‘Every time? Every trip?’
The old man smiled. ‘Don’t be too alarmed. I know when to look away.’
Liam started trying to trawl through his jumbled memory.
‘Relax, Liam. I’ve seen in you the very best of humanity. Mercy, compassion, courage, selflessness, curiosity …’
‘Jay-zus, I’m no bloody saint … I’m just a –’
‘A human?’
‘But, God help me, I’m not even that! I’m the product of a test tube.’
‘You are the product of your life experiences, your actions, your choices, not the circumstances in which you are born. Liam … we could make this decision on behalf of humanity, but it’s my belief that the choice has to come from one of you. In fact, I petitioned my colleagues on the matter. That a human choice should be behind the decision.’
‘I’m a … what do they call it … I’m a clone. I’m not even hu–’
‘You are made of human DNA. How you were grown, in the belly of a woman or in an artificial womb, makes little difference to me. To all intents and purposes you are human.’ He rested a hand on Liam’s shoulder. ‘So, I choose you.’
Liam gazed at the wall of light in front of them. ‘I … I can’t just … decide something like that for everyone! And, Jay-zus, don’t ask me to leave those poor souls stuck in there … I can’t … I can’t do that!’
Foster smiled. ‘You genuinely believe that humanity can be better, don’t you?’
Liam had witnessed so much of the dark underbelly of life … and yet so many acts of heroism and selflessness, courage and compassion. ‘Yes. Yes, I do … I think so.’
‘Then perhaps your decision is already made?’
Liam shot a glance at him. ‘Now? I’m making that decision right now?’
‘I think the decision you come to now … wouldn’t be changed by an hour of reflection, or a day, a year. You have quite clearly an opinion of mankind, a summation
of them.’ He narrowed his eyes … and smiled. ‘It seems that you do very much believe in them.’
Liam nodded. ‘I do. I think … I think we could be better. I think we can grow up.’
‘You understand, from this point until we eventually return, this last run through time … is a blank canvas, Liam. A completely blank canvas. Do you understand what I’m saying? Up until now, you have been told by Waldstein that history cannot in any way be altered. That it cannot be contaminated. That it must go one particular way.’
Liam nodded. ‘That was what he –’
‘Then I want to be absolutely sure that you understand this. Forget that. History must be changed. Radically. The sooner you start out on a brand-new path, the better your chances will be one day. Do you understand? Not baby steps, Liam … but giant strides.’ Foster pressed his lips together. ‘Two thousand years? You have so little time to get things right.’
‘I understand.’
‘The history of this final loop is unwritten. Your fate is undefined. Make the best use of the time you have.’
‘What do I do? How do I change things?’
‘We’re in a very special time and place, Liam; how the next two thousand years goes will be defined by what happens in the next few days … weeks. Right now, humanity is desperately looking for new answers, getting ready to abandon old ways, old religions, old ways of thinking. This is “ground zero” for the next two millennia. You have a chance to steer it.’
They stared in silence at the light for a while, before Liam finally spoke. ‘So what happens next?’
‘What happens next is already happening. I have communicated the decision to my colleagues. The beam will collapse in just a few hours’ time. The cylinder shield will seal for the last time. The field will collapse. After that, time travel will no longer be possible.’
‘What about –’
‘Your colleague will be fine. He’ll be here shortly.’
‘But there are others!’
‘I know about them. Maddy … Becks … your good friends. You’ll need to communicate with them immediately. I’m sure you’ll want to tell them what I’ve been telling you. That is fine. I think you will need them with you, Liam … if you’re planning to stay here at the beginning, there is so much work to do; you will need friends.’
‘Stay? I’m going to be stuck here, aren’t I? If time travel stops, I’m going to be stuck here for the rest of my life?’
‘Humankind’s last chance begins right here, Liam. This is your place … if this is what you choose. Or … the field can be maintained and –’
‘No!’ He steadied his voice. ‘No. You have to let them go.’
Foster smiled. ‘I’m glad you said that. Non-existence is a far kinder sentence than eternal torment.’ He reached out and patted Liam’s arm. ‘If it helps … that’s the choice I would have made.’
‘This is where I’m going to live the rest of my life, then?’
‘Yes. If this is what your final decision is.’
Someone needs to be here, steering things. There are no choices on that matter. It’s me.
‘I’ll stay.’
‘Good lad.’
‘But … how am I going to tell the others to come back here?’
‘I prepared the way for you.’ He squeezed Liam’s shoulder. ‘I’ve always known this would be your decision.’
‘Since when?’
‘Since now.’
Liam looked puzzled. ‘That doesn’t even begin to make sense.’
‘Time is circular, Liam. You’ll understand that one day. You just need to write them a letter.’ He smiled. ‘A letter they’ve already received.’
‘What letter?’
Foster winked at him. ‘Think about it.’
He let go of Liam’s shoulder. ‘You know, the foolish idealist in me believes in you. If anyone can steer them right … I believe you can.’
He stepped towards the glowing beam of light. His slight and hunched old man’s frame became silhouetted against the glare. All of a sudden his outline began to waver and shift, his limbs to elongate, his head to narrow. Now no longer a shuffling old man but something tall and graceful, ethereal and as fragile as a butterfly. From the slender shoulder blades of his bare back something large and fan-like had emerged: two feathery membranes so fine that the light shone murkily through them, highlighting a web of pencil-thin bones and tendons.
The figure looked back over his ‘wings’. His face glowed, smooth and featureless, not quite male or female, and ageless. Alien, yet strangely beautiful. He smiled. ‘I’ll be back one day to see how you’ve fared.’
Then he stepped into the field.
Liam watched his outline quickly become lost in the glare. And then he was entirely alone in the chamber. A moment later, he felt a puff of air on his skin, and turned to see Bob standing beside him. The support unit looked around, braced and ready for action. ‘Where is the entity we saw in the pinhole image?’
‘He’s just gone. It’s only you and me down here now.’
‘Did you make contact? Did you speak with it?’
Liam nodded. ‘Yes … yes, we spoke.’
‘What information did the entity reveal?’
He gazed at chaos space. ‘I’ll explain all of that later. We haven’t got a lot of time. Bob … you have the data stamp for our arrival location on the hillside?’
‘I have it logged.’
‘Good … do you still have full recollection of the original text of the Holy Grail document in your head?’
‘Of course.’
‘Then there’s something we’re going to need to add to it.’
CHAPTER 58
2070, W.G. Systems
Denver Research Campus
‘What …? What’s the message?’
‘This is the concealed part of the message, Maddy. The part I –’
‘I know! I know! The bit you couldn’t say because the end condition wasn’t satisfied yet. So is that what just happened?’ Maddy pointed at the window. ‘Your sectioned-off brain has finally figured out that the Pandora Event has happened?’
‘No. I believe the message has just been changed.’ Her eyes narrowed as she tried to make sense of the subtle shift of data in her head. ‘We may have just experienced a very subtle time wave, Maddy. History has been altered. The document that will be known as the “Holy Grail” may just have been amended.’
‘Liam! Right? It’s got to be Liam!’
Becks met her eyes. ‘Yes … it must be.’
‘Well, tell me what the frikkin’ message is!’
She closed her eyes. Maddy could see eye movement dancing beneath the fine skin of her lids.
‘The wording is the same … except for a short sequence in the middle.’
‘Just say the damned thing!’
‘Time is limited. Have found second transmitter. Tachyon beam shuts down soon. After this, no more time displacement. You will be stuck. A choice to make, Maddy. Choose somewhere, or join us. Choose quickly. Little time. Our time-stamp data follows …’
‘Where are they? Are they back in London now?’
‘Negative.’ Becks silently processed the numbers. ‘They are still in Jerusalem in the first century.’
Maddy waited expectantly. ‘Is there any more?’
Becks opened her eyes. ‘That is all of it.’
‘Nothing else left locked away in your skull?’
She shook her head. ‘I have no more secrets now.’
‘But wait! We can’t just abandon the field office and shoot off to ancient Jerusalem!’
‘Our London field office has a shutdown protocol, Maddy. Remember?’
She mentally kicked herself; yes, of course, her parting instructions. If they didn’t get back, computer-Bob would make sure no one was going to make use of their displacement machine, or his AI.
‘We would not need to worry about the displacement machine falling into someone else’s hands anyway. It will not work.’ br />
‘What?’
‘No more time displacement. Perhaps it means we have only been able to travel through time because of the force field created by the beacons?’
‘We’ve been riding on the back of it?’
Becks nodded. Maddy shot a glance at the wire cage of Waldstein’s displacement machine. ‘So, when the field shuts down, this machine, the one in London … they’re not going to work any more?’
‘I believe that is what Liam is saying.’
‘Then …’ She got the urgency now. They had to decide what they were going to do: stay here, go back to London, join Liam or go elsewhere … and they had to decide quickly.
A choice to make, Maddy. The message Liam had just sent was unequivocal, the word was right there … a choice. Not a call for help. Not an obligation … he said it. A choice.
Her choice.
‘Maddy? The message says we have to choose quickly.’
How quickly? Days? Hours? Minutes?
‘I don’t know … where the hell am I supposed to go?’
‘Do you wish to remain here?’ asked Becks.
‘No!’
‘London?’
She shook her head. ‘No … I don’t want to spend the rest of my days there.’
Becks cocked her head. ‘Are you considering another place that you would like to live your life?’
Maddy didn’t want to admit that, but … yes. She’d thought about this before. She had a particular place in mind, but it felt like a selfish choice. It felt irresponsible, a naive wish.
‘Recommendation: I should immediately activate Waldstein’s displacement machine. We will need some time to build up an energy store before we can go anywhere.’
‘Yes.’ Maddy nodded. ‘Yeah, you better get that started.’
Becks hurried through the gap in the bookshelf. Maddy heard her echoing footsteps down the short dark passage, then her clattering around in the lab beyond. She heard the electronic whine of energy being diverted. The lights in Waldstein’s office dimmed and flickered as power was drawn away from them.
I could go anywhere … couldn’t I? We’re all done now.
Waldstein had told them their job was finished. Mission accomplished. And Liam … it’s not like he’d said, ‘I need you here.’ It’s not like he was saying, ‘Please help me.’ In fact, in the few words he’d used, it had sounded just a little bit like a goodbye. It had sounded to her like: Great working with you. Have a good life. As if he was telling her he’d got things covered. And …