Day of the Predator - Alex Scarrow [20]
Maddy nodded. ‘It’s a tiny ripple in time. Nothing that would change anything else. After all … who’s going to be reading the lonely hearts section of the papers tomorrow?’
‘The papers would be full of that plane-crashing-into-building story, will they not?’ said Liam.
‘Exactly. Our little advert won’t be noticed by anyone, except, of course … a bunch of people carefully studying a page of a fifty-five-year-old newspaper in 2056, or thereabouts.’ Maddy clucked with excitement. ‘I can’t tell you how freakin’ relieved I am that there’s somebody else out there!’
Liam nodded at the screen in front of her. ‘Looks like Bob’s done.’
> I have decoded the message, Maddy.
‘What is it?’
> It is only a partial message. The signal has been interrupted.
‘Uh? OK … give us what you’ve got, Bob.’
Words spooled across the dialogue box:
> Contamination event. Origin time appears to be 10.17 a.m. 18 August 2015. Major contamination ripples. Significant realignment of time stream. Death of Edward Chan, author of original theory on time travel, resulting in failure to write thesis in 2029. Death may have been deliberate assassination attempt. Occurred while visiting Instit–
The three of them waited for a moment for Bob to print out more of the message.
> That is all I have. The partial ends there.
‘That’s it?’
> That is it, Maddy.
She turned to look at the others. ‘Er … what the hell are we supposed to make of that?’
They sat in silence for a while, digesting the small block of text on the screen. Finally Liam shrugged. ‘That they’re in trouble?’
‘Well, duh,’ sighed Maddy.
‘They need our help?’ said Sal.
‘But can we help, though?’ said Liam. ‘Can I go into the future?’
‘Of course you can.’ Maddy pinched the tip of her nose thoughtfully. ‘Think about it. Every time we bring you back from a mission in the past, you’re going forward in time, aren’t you?’
> This is correct. A mission operative can travel forward and backwards. However, energy expenditure is significantly higher moving forward.
Sal looked at the other two. ‘But maybe there are other field offices further in the future than us who will deal with this?’
Liam nodded. ‘She’s right. If we’re not the only team, then perhaps somebody else is closer in time?’
Maddy gave it a moment’s thought. ‘Then why direct the message right at us? I mean … right here, right now?’ She turned back to the desk. ‘Bob, was this a broad-spectrum signal beam, sent out for everybody to pick up … anywhere … anywhen?’
> Negative. It was a narrow, focused beam.
‘Meaning it was meant for us?’
> That is the logical assumption, Maddy.
‘But surely there are other teams in the future,’ said Sal. ‘Somebody closer in time and –’
‘Maybe there are,’ cut in Maddy, ‘but any field office based after –’ she looked at the screen – ‘after the eighteenth of August 2015 is going to be affected by the time wave also, right?’ She stared at the other two. ‘So maybe we’re the closest unaffected team? Maybe we’re the field office closest before this date?’
Liam sighed. ‘Aw, come on. Why is it us again? We only just got ourselves fixed up after the last bleedin’ mess and a half.’
> Hello, Liam. I have a question.
‘Good mornin’, Bob.’
> Is ‘bleedin’’ a reference to the high body count of the last mission including the extensive damage to my last organic support frame? Or is it an expression of anger I should add to my language database?
‘It’s Liam being all stressy,’ said Maddy.
> Angry?
‘That’s right.’
Once again they stared in silence at the partial message displayed on the screen, all of them silently hoping it would just go away or change into another message simply welcoming them to the agency.
‘It’s for us, isn’t it?’ said Sal after a while. ‘We’ve got to fix this time problem like we did the last one.’
Maddy nodded. ‘I think so.’
Liam’s jaw set firmly. ‘Well, I’m not going anywhere ’less I’ve got Bob coming with me. I mean that, so I do.’
‘OK,’ said Maddy. ‘That’s only fair.’ She turned round to face the computer