Last night I dreamed you were back again
Larger than life again, holding me tight again
Past The Point Of Rescue, Mary Black
The Ritz, London, 5am, 6th May 1946
When Gary woke to the sound of a loudly running bath early the next morning the last events of the previous evening were a blur. He could recall Ron offering him the chance to travel into the future and he remembered accepting. He remembered feeling sad about it, he thought, why? He was lying on his front and his shoulder hurt, so did his lower back; it wasn't pain as such, just a dull ache. A bit more came back to him, Ron had forbidden him from seeing Xavier that was why he was sad. No, more than sad, first the carrot had been dangled in front of his nose and then it had been taken away. He would get to Xavier somehow, once he was in the future; he swore that he would try everything; there was no point otherwise.
Gary tried to sit up and was met with a sharp sting in his shoulder; he rolled onto his side and felt the area. It was covered with a fabric patch like an adhesive dressing and was sore to the touch. He struggled to remember more, then got to the point when he had realised that his tea was drugged. What had Ron been up to, Gary wondered, surely that was him in the shower. Gary tried to lie on his back but felt something digging into his spine; he moved to the side but the obstruction came with him. He reached a hand down and felt another fabric dressing but there was something hard under this one. He was contemplating trying to sit up when Ron came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped round his waist.
"Morning, Gary." Ron said grinning from ear to ear, impossibly bright.
Gary scowled at him, "What have you done?" he demanded.
"My plan Gary, I told you I had a plan."
"My God, you are…"
"Gary, don't try to suggest that I am senile again," Ron interrupted, "There is a plan and it will work with a bit of cooperation from you."
"So we're still going to the future, the both of us?" Gary asked in disbelief.
"Yes," Ron replied, "Or I wouldn't have needed a plan would I?"
"So tell me what you've gone and done to me." Gary repeated his demand.
"That ID chip, it can't sit in a box can it, I had to implant it." Ron replied in matter of fact way.
"You drugged me just to put a chip in my shoulder!"
"Well you wouldn't have let me do it if I'd explained first," Ron answered with a shrug.
Gary was indignant, "No, I wouldn't," he blazed from his supine position, "You're not a doctor."
"Yes, I am." Ron said simply, staring Gary down.
Gary was struck to silence and watched as Ron smirked smugly to himself while he ordered them a very early breakfast. Then Gary remembered something.
"What about the other bit? You've done something else." Gary accused.
"Ah," Ron said pausing, "That's about where the plan comes in, how you get out of the war."
"Just tell me," Gary said firmly with a sense of foreboding, "Tell me what the plan is."
"Well if I gave you any old chip, sooner or later you would be conscripted," Ron attempted to explain, "So the chip has to read that you have been damaged in some way, a bit like Xavier's does."
"Won't they notice?" Gary snapped.
"Oh, do just listen till I'm finished, Gary" Ron snapped back. Gary fell silent and Ron continued, "The chip has medical records on it that will exempt you from any military service, only we will have to travel across country through many road block checkpoints. So, unless you are suddenly a very good actor and think you can pass their inspection, we're going to need a little help."
"I don't like the sound of this," Gary said warily, "What does the chip say?"
Ron took a deep breath; "I was called into the city during the last major raid, sent to search for the living amongst the rubble," he said, "There were many more dead bodies than living but I was issued with a scanner to search for the med histories of survivors as I found them. I had found out about your suicide a few months previously, I was already formulating plans when I came across him."
"You took the chip off a dead body?" Gary asked with disgust.
"They don't hand them out at the supermarket anymore." Ron snapped.
"OK," Gary backed down meekly, "Just tell me."
"He was badly burnt though that obviously wasn't on his record. He had been a soldier and was about your height and build. Chaos reigned that night, didn't take much to pick the flesh back and remove the undamaged chip from underneath, put it in my pocket." Ron paused and Gary tried to wait patiently. He guessed that Ron wasn't so at ease with this as he was trying to make out, "The man had sustained a lower lumbar lesion leading to complete sensory and motory deficit, six months previously."
Gary gave Ron a blank look and Ron's eyes gleamed with the excitement of that night's discovery.
"It was perfect, the man couldn't walk, would never be able to; would never have been able to had he not got fried." Ron enthused.
Gary was weighing up once again whether his friend was truly operating on the same level of sanity as himself but managed to keep quiet this time.
"When we travel out of London we will come across many checkpoints." Ron continued, "They will ask us to get out of the car whilst they search it. You will have to be convincing for them, they will have scanners and they will have guns. Simply, the device in your back makes the details of your chip a reality, well the effects of it anyway. I'm not going to sever your spinal cord." Ron added laughing nervously at the end.
Gary couldn't help but eye him with suspicion still, "Well, as you can imagine, I am glad to hear that."
"It's reversible, don't worry," Ron added quickly, "Once we're established in a house a good distance from any road, then we can turn it off."
"I don't know what to say," Gary said numbly.
"I know, it's over whelming but we don't have the time, if you want to come, this is the deal."
"I'm still coming, not like I have many other options." Gary said, he thought Ron looked relieved that he wasn't backing out; maybe Ron needed his old friend back too.
"I can maybe get another chip from a man who's died from a sudden trauma, keep it till after the war, then you'll be able to live a more normal life." Ron offered.
Gary thought that Ron could well be dead by then, thus leaving him permanently in this bizarre pretence, he didn't mention it. "I won't say that I'm especially happy about this."
Ron smiled, "I wouldn't expect you to be, it's going to be a very weird experience and it is very clearly illegal." He said, "However, we must get going, if we're going to talk we'll have to do it in the car on the other side."
Gary eased up into a sitting position and swung his legs over the side of the bed. It was as he was getting dressed, momentarily alone in the bathroom that he realised that Ron would have him pretty much under house arrest. There were no opportunities to go seeking out Xavier built into Ron's plan; beyond the house he would be dependant upon him for everything. He would have to opt for pleading shamelessly instead.
The East End, London, early am, 6th May 1946
Ron led Gary through streets that he knew so well now. They passed very close to The Royal Oak but didn't go down Duckett's Passage. Gary felt tense though somehow detached from the proceedings too.
"I hope, after all this, the damn time portal is still working." Ron joked; Gary was too wound up to see the funny side. The thing that really freaked Gary out happened, Ron was noticing things again. "I'll give you something to calm you down once we get to the other side." He offered.
Gary's back still hurt; he didn't know yet what Ron had actually done to it. Ron was doing very well for his age, he was setting quite a fast pace and they had hardly had any sleep in the past couple of days. Gary followed trying his best not to jar his back, Ron didn't seem to be concerned about his condition at all but he didn't trust him very much at that moment, he had been far too sneaky.
In the end the time portal experience was one of anti climax. Just like it had been when he had made his first trip to the past there was no feeling as he went through. Ron did not prompt him, there were no signposts; he was just suddenly walking through rubble where a moment ago he had strode on a pavement. The area was clearly identifiable as a bombsite; it must surely be dangerous to be treading across it. Ron slowed now; the jagged stone was too much for his unsteady elderly gait. Gary looked in awe, there was not a complete building standing for over a mile. Somewhere in the near distance he could make out the shape of a car parked on a semi-cleared road; they were heading towards it.
They proceeded slowly and Gary took Ron's arm for both their benefits. They had only walked a short while when Gary's view changed to one of the inside of a building, brightly coloured with details of chrome. He felt a tug on his arm and was pulled backwards. It was all rubble again and Gary turned to Ron.
"Looks like that bomb shook up more time portals than I realised," Ron commented, "Do not let go of my arm."
They picked their way as slowly as they could manage now, Gary pulled back and they detoured every time he saw his foot or hand sink into a past or a future. He couldn't deal with any more time travel just now, he still had Ron's plan to live out and he couldn't wait to find Xavier. Even to know that they were in the same time zone made Gary's heart lighter. Xavier and Ron were all he had left; he would cling on to them no matter what. Their last night together had been filled with talk of moving on, not letting the past rule the present, having a life; he had failed Xavier as he had failed everybody else.
Ron's car didn't look too much different to the ones Gary had been used to in the nineties, on the surface anyway. It looked strange parked up on the side of the road amidst all the destruction. Ron stepped up to the door of the car and opened it to let Gary get in on the passenger side.
"You didn't lock it?" Gary asked in surprise.
"The car recognises my chip." Ron answered.
"Oh."
Ron smiled to himself, "You'll be asking me if it runs on petrol next." He teased Gary.
Gary got into the car, if Ron was going to extract amusement out of his glaring naiveté then he didn't mind at all, he could allow him that much. However much had or hadn't changed, he was going to need Ron a lot.
Gary got into the car and Ron shut the door on him and got in on the driver's side. Gary became a little concerned over Ron's ability to drive but he had learned by now not to say anything.
"Right, this is it," Ron announced, "We're going to drive out of the city now, so we'll have to start on the next bit of 'the plan'."
Gary had nearly managed to forget about this after forcibly pushing it to the back of his mind. Ron opened up the case on his lap and removed a plastic looking object sealed in a plastic wallet.
"This is similar to what I put in your back," he explained, then he pointed at the edges of the part of it which was rather disc like, "This bit sits on the surface of your skin and over the next few days will fuse with it, meaning it can stay in for a very long time, no infection." A tube protruded from the disc, Ron pointed that out next, "This bit goes right inside wherever you want a drug to be administered," he continued, "There's a flap on the disc surface into which a small capsule can be placed, it's a slow release device, very commonly used."
"Will this hurt?" Gary asked cowardly.
Ron smiled at him in a manner more sympathetic than the teasing earlier. "No, Gary, the whole point is that you won't feel a thing."
Gary knew exactly what he meant and suddenly his chest tightened in fear, this was just too much for his head to deal with. Ron reached into his case and took out a packet of tablets.
"I'll give you one of these," Ron said holding out a little pink tablet to Gary, "They're a bit like a mild valium." Gary took the tablet and Ron gave him a small bottle of coke to wash it down with.
"What now?" Gary asked.
"Now lean forward and pull your shirt up," Ron replied, "It'll take a while to work so I have to do it before we go anywhere."
Gary was trying hard to convince himself that this was Ron's time and he knew what he was doing. He was having difficulties with the basics though, Ron, a doctor? It was just too bizarre. He was in 2053 though and he didn't want to go back. It wasn't just Ron telling him it was dangerous for him, he had heard it off Xavier too, he would just have to trust Ron.
Ron could tell that Gary was hesitating because of his fear. "We can skip this bit," Ron said, "Only you will have to put on a perfect act for them if we get stopped."
"I can do that, it'll be OK; I've just got to sit still, right?" Gary said.
"There's every chance that we'll have to get out of the car while they search it, happened to me six times on the way down here," Ron explained, "They might let you stay in the car, only things have been getting a bit more tense in the last few months and they might insist. Anyway, if they did, it would mean that you would have to let me do it or they might volunteer themselves. They'll have guns to wave about, big guns."
Gary weighed up the options and decided that he didn't want to be running any risks where guns were concerned; a coward still, he thought. He leant forward with his arms folded on the dash and his chin resting on them.
"Just do it before I change my mind," Gary said, "I don't know what I'll do if anybody pulls a gun on me."
Ron didn't say anything he just leaned over and felt up Gary's back. He pulled the dressing back, flipped the cap open on the disc and inserted the capsule. He turned a small switch before replacing the dressing and straightening Gary's clothes.
"How's the valium?" Ron asked.
Gary didn't know whether it was the Valium or not but as soon as he had felt the switch being clicked he felt a bit better. There were no more decisions now, which could be part of it, just travel and progress. He felt a little dreamy and light suddenly.
"It's fine," Gary said smiling at Ron, they were on their way home and he was not going to be alone anymore; yes, part of it was definitely the Valium but he was happy too. Ron started up the car, which was very quiet and exceptionally smooth as they drove off. Gary felt very sleepy; he leant his head back and closed his eyes.
"Fantastic suspension," Gary commented.
Ron chuckled to himself, "This is top of the range kit," He said, "We're not on wheels, we're hovering."
Gary smiled as he struggled to stay awake a moment longer, "Well I am."
"Oh dear," Ron said to himself, grinning smugly, "Maybe they weren't mild valium after all, more like full strength; just can't read labels properly at my age."
Ron stole a look at his sleeping friend once more before turning his full attention to the road. He smiled to himself as he drove feeling happier than he had done in months. His mission was almost complete and rather amazingly successful. All he had to do now was get Gary home and hope that he had done the right thing.
On The Road, England, 6th May 2053
Gary shook his head as Ron turned a corner waking him up abruptly. His head still felt fuzzy.
"I do wish you would stop doing that." He said to Ron who tried very hard not to look amused. Gary's shoulders were feeling stiff and tired, he had been curled into an awkward position and sleeping upright in a car was never a good idea; he really did wish Ron would stop drugging him. He tried to shuffle himself to get comfortable and found that very little became of it. Panic almost gripped him through the haze, he couldn't move his legs at all; he shifted them with his arms and leant back in the seat with a sigh.
Ron slowed the car and pulled up by the side of the road. "Do you want some more drugs?" Ron asked.
"No," He answered, "It was just a bit of a shock that's all, I didn't think about what it would be like."
"It will take some getting used to but we're more than halfway there now." Ron said with sympathy in his voice, if he were honest with himself he was feeling a bit weirded out too. He put a hand on Gary's arm to reassure him.
Gary looked around at the vastly changed scenery; they were in the countryside but there were no soft rolling hills. The hills had a rugged quality that set it apart as moorland, maybe Dartmoor or somewhere farther a field. The sun was low in the sky to the left of them and Gary had a feeling that they had been travelling some time considering the dose of drugs he had been given. Suddenly whether he could walk or not wasn't the only problem.
"Where are you taking me? Where are we?" Gary asked Ron letting the panic show in his voice.
"We're near what used to be the M6 motorway and just about to pass Carlisle, you've been out for about eleven hours," Ron answered, "I've arranged for us to take a nice house near Glasgow, sorted it while you were asleep, when we passed through Manchester. Glasgow hasn't been hit nearly as hard as the cities in the south, we'll be well out of the way of danger."
Well out of the way of mischief too, Gary thought sadly to himself. Ron was making a very good job of this, he added to his thoughts, they were going as far as they could without running out of motorway; easy for Ron to drive back to London, an impossibility for Gary. He looked out of the window; it did indeed look like they were moving close to Scotland. There was nothing about the scenery that made it particularly 2053, which surprised and worried Gary. The car though, it was definitely hovering; they were at least some way forward into the future Gary thought.
"Can I drive on?" Ron asked breaking through Gary's contemplative silence.
Gary turned to his friend, "Yes, I was just thinking." He said.
"Everything will be all right," Ron said judging Gary's mood, "I know what it seems like now but I promise you'll be happier by tomorrow, OK?"
Gary smiled grimly, "I don't like to believe all the times I hear that everything will be OK."
Ron rubbed a hand up and down his arm then to Gary's horror let it stray up to his shoulder, across his chest and then round his neck. Ron massaged his neck before running his hand further up into his hair. Ron had been looking down but he raised his eyes up to Gary's and stopped abruptly at what he saw there, he snatched his hand back.
"I know, I know," Ron said glumly, "I'm just much too old these days."
"It's not that." Gary said trying to make things better.
"What then?" Ron said looking hurt, "I always thought we were the best of friends."
"We've been parted for only a year and I remember perhaps better than you; friends meant something slightly different then."
"I suppose," Ron said as lightly as he could as he started the car up again, "Friends is good, I suppose I just needed to know."
They pulled away from the side of the road and Ron concentrated heavily on the driving. Gary began to wonder what he was going to do to make this new life work. He worried about how the two of them were going to spend all of their time together in peace. It occurred to Gary that Ron might not live much longer; he looked at Ron then but pushed the thought to the back of his mind.
They drove on for endless miles through countryside that changed little in appearance as they progressed. Gary didn't really appreciate the speed until a long line of traffic slowed them considerably. Gary looked into the distance and found that the tailback went on for miles and was stationary not far in front.
"Oh, not again," Ron said in an irritated though slightly resigned voice, "We've had to pass through five of these already."
"I thought eleven hours was a long time." Gary commented.
Ron turned to him, "This is the queue for a checkpoint," He announced to Gary's horror, "The Scottish border."
"What are we going to do?" Gary asked, clearly panicking.
"The same as we did for the other five I suppose," Ron said sounding bored more than anything.
"What am I going to do?" Gary asked still panicking.
Ron sighed and faced him, "Nothing, Gary," He said, "That's the point; stop looking so guilty, that would be a start."
"The wound on my back isn't even healed yet."
"You're chip says you're an injured war hero, what do you think they're going to do?" Ron continued starting to sound tired and exasperated, to Gary he just sounded callous.
"What the hell have you got me into?" Gary snapped.
"You wanted me to bring you here," Ron defended, "I never said it would be easy, you knew about the war."
"I knew about the war a year ago, now I only know what you've told me which isn't much." Gary said looking out of the window.
"I will tell you anything you want to know, there just isn't time now and I'm tired, just trust me for now."
"I don't trust you anymore." Gary said to the window resting his head against the cool glass. Gary wanted to have it out with Ron badly but this was hardly the time to go falling out.
"What do you want to know?" Ron asked placing a hand on Gary's shoulder.
Gary turned to see Ron leaning over him and the car jerked forward.
"Who's driving?" Gary asked with a gasp.
"It's on auto, a distance of two metres will be maintained between us and the car in front."
Gary tried taking a deep breath to relax, with every jerk they came closer to the checkpoint, the distance was closing faster than he thought it would. "Are we going to be safe?" Gary asked, "In this place you're taking me to."
"Yes, very safe." Ron replied confidently.
"Is Xavier somewhere safe too?" Gary continued.
"Yes, also very safe, you think I would let my only son be in danger while I saved you?"
Gary looked down into his lap, "No, you would do anything for him and then see to me if you had some time left over."
"Yes, exactly so," Ron replied.
"Are we going to be safe for a long time?" Gary asked dreading the answer.
"I'll explain about the war when we've had a rest but for now all you need to know is that we'll be fine." Ron replied in soothing tones.
Gary sank back into the seat and tried to relax a bit more.
"Of course, if we get invaded that will be a different matter," Ron added with a smile as he turned back to the traffic in front.
"What do you mean?" Gary demanded.
"Well," Ron replied regretting his slip-up greatly, "They're not hunting the Jews this time."
"Ok," Gary said turning away, "You're right, maybe later, I don't think I want to know."
"I haven't been straight with you, I imagine you've guessed that much," Ron confessed suddenly, "Tomorrow morning, I promise things will be different then, just give me till tomorrow morning."
Gary agreed to Ron's request in bewilderment, he didn't know what to say; he had noticed that things hadn't been entirely honest between them but he didn't have any idea where it was leading now.