Notes: "Silver Blaze" is the name of my favourite Sherlock Holmes story. :)

Chapter 8: Rebels on the Heath

Because the stealth technology only worked if the ship was moving slowly, the flight north felt very drawn-out, especially since Future Luke didn't seem particularly predisposed towards any more discussion after his conversation with Dimitri. Fortunately, it wasn't long before Future Luke took the airship over another park, where he began to descend, and he landed at the bottom of a large hill, on a path surrounded by woodland. Here it was dark enough that he could deactivate the stealth (apparently it used a lot of energy), and the three of disembarked. Luke shivered, immediately noticing the difference in temperature.

"Little Luke, do you know where we are?" said Layton, as Luke watched Polly fly up towards one of the trees.

Luke shook his head. "No, Professor." Difficult to tell, in the dark. Indeed, Future Luke had pulled out some torches from one of his pockets, and had handed them each one.

"This is north London," said Layton. "Hampstead Heath."

"Ah, so this is Hampstead Heath," Luke said.

He'd heard of the place, but had never been to see it before. It was much bigger than the tiny park at Russell Square. The grasses by the path on the hill came up to Luke's knees - he could the crickets getting ready for their night songs - and there were miles of ancient woodland and great meadows; in fact, it was such a veritable haven for wildlife that Luke began to wonder why the professor had never taken him here before. In Hampstead Heath, you could imagine yourself to be in the middle of the countryside, rather than in the middle of a major capital city.

"Is Hampstead our next destination, Big Luke?" Layton asked. The area of Hampstead was to the south west of Hampstead Heath.

"No," said Future Luke, frowning a little. "Why?"

"You used to live in Hampstead, didn't you, Professor?" said Luke.

"Ah, that's right," said Future Luke. "Now I see. Did you want to see how it's turned out? It's very likely just like the rest of London."

"No, no..." said Layton.

Luke frowned in worry. For a moment, the professor had looked so... tired. "Are you all right, Professor?"

"Oh, I'm fine. Just remembering... old memories."

Luke glanced at his older self, who gave him an I don't know what's up either, best to just drop it look.

A crow cawed from high in the air, and flew down to the ground in front of Future Luke. He was practically impossible to spot in the dark, but he was certainly loud enough.

"Hey, boss!" he called.

"Ah! Well done for finding me, Baldrick," said Future Luke, bending down to push something on the bird's chest; and a light turned on. Now Luke could see that Baldrick was wearing a mini car headlight over his chest. He was the same carrion crow that had delivered Future Luke's second letter outside London Zoo.

"Why'd you leave the base? Were you worried about me, or something?"

"Just a bit," Baldrick responded, somewhat drily. "But I see you, er, found yourself, at least. HELLO." The greeting was directed at Layton, who was taken aback slightly, not accustomed to animals other than Polly talking to him directly.

"Er... hello," he said.

Future Luke smiled a little. "That's the only word he knows how to say in English," he said, "but he can understand quite a bit of English and he imitates a lot of songs. He's like a mini-radio."

"It's a pleasure to meet you," said Layton.

Baldrick flapped his wings a bit, and cawed in delight, and the intended message was clear: the feeling is mutual.

He hobbled on the floor, turning his black head to look up at Future Luke. "Boss, what happened?" he said. "I've been waiting for ages! Everyone's worried about you. You go and do stupid reckless things like going off on your own on a huge mission and turning your frigging radio off...!"

Future Luke didn't seem too troubled by the fact that he had apparently caused a lot of people to worry about him. "Ran into a bit of trouble with Dimitri," he said offhandedly, with a shrug of the shoulders, "had to maintain radio silence or he would have eventually been able to find me."

Baldrick made a harsh caw. "What was Dimitri doing all the way in Russell Square? He's got no business there. Did he find out about your plan to meet the past Layton there?"

"That's what I thought at first, too, but it turns out he was actually after our new friend up there," said Future Luke, pointing up towards the branches of a large tree.

"HELLO," said Polly, from somewhere within the tree. Luke was glad that he'd chosen to speak in English. He sometimes felt a bit sorry for the professor, who always had to wait patiently while he talked to any animal they would come across during the course of their investigations. It never seemed to bother Layton, though.

"POLLY'S NAME IS POLLY."

"Oh," said Baldrick. "It's you. The parrot."

"ME?" said Polly. He sounded somewhere between confused and annoyed, and he fluttered down to the ground, giving Baldrick a parrot's equivalent of a dagger-shooting glare. "WHAT ABOUT ME?"

"Er... nothing," said Baldrick, flapping up to perch on Future Luke's shoulder. "Forget I said anything."

"How many times do I have to say that the teleportation isn't my fault?" said Polly grumpily.

"Don't worry," said Future Luke, in English, "I'm taking you to our team of specialists right now to see if they can figure out what's going on with you."

"MORE SCIENTISTS, THAT MEANS. SCIENTISTS... LIKE DIMITRI. WHOOP-DE-DOO," said Polly, with fake enthusiasm.

"No, not like Dimitri," said Future Luke firmly. "They're nice, I promise. I'll tell them to be extra careful with you. And there'll be food. Do bananas sound good?"

This seemed to have the effect of perking Polly right up; like most animals, Polly was instantly enticed by the mention of food. "YUP," he said. "HUNGRY, POLLY IS. LEAD THE WAY."

"Right," said Future Luke. "Off we go, then."

In the near darkness, and using the beams of light from their torches as guides, Layton and Luke followed Future Luke off the path, into the thick grass, soon becoming surrounded by thick woodland. Future Luke pointed his torch at one large tree in particular, and Baldrick flew up into this tree's branches.

"If you don't mind, I'll wait for you here, boss," said Baldrick.

"No problem. I'll give you a buzz when we're ready to return to base."

Baldrick cawed twice, and then settled into silence. Future Luke, meanwhile, pushed a button on a remote control; and suddenly Luke felt the ground underneath his feet shaking ever so slightly.

A secret compartment in the earth opened right underneath the roots of the tree, revealing stairs that led down into the depths. From his perch atop Luke's shoulder, Polly shuffled uneasily. As parrots were tree-dwellers, they liked being at the top of everything, where they could see food and predators, and so the idea of going underground didn't really appeal to Polly. Luke was able to calm him down by bringing up the bananas again, but the drive to find out who was causing his trips through space-time was, for Polly, also a compelling reason to go ahead; and so, with that in mind, they entered the hole.

A damp, thick smell filled Luke's nostrils as he followed both adults down the stairs, and his eyes slowly adjusted to the slightly orange hue coming from a couple of fluorescent lamps at the side of the staircase. The stone opening above them lurched shut with a grinding sound after they reached the bottom of the stairs, and Luke realised that there were a couple of men in the cavern, in the same overalls as Future Luke. It looked like they had been playing cards before they had been interrupted by the noise; there was a wooden table situated to one side of the cave.

One man was much shorter than the other, and, with his arms and rest of body not so tensed, he looked to be the calmer of the two. Despite the height difference, they had matching eyes and hair, with identical hairy eyebrows and moustaches to boot; Luke guessed that they were relatives, most likely brothers. They were both armed, and the concentrated expression in their eyes made Luke think that they looked like a pair of Doberman dogs guarding a house.

However, when they saw Future Luke, their aggressive expressions changed, cycling through relieved, angry and worried, before settling into a combination of the three.

"Bloody hellfire! There you are, you muppet!" said the tall guard. Without waiting for a response, he went on: "Why didn't you contact base before you left for Russell Square? WC1 was crawling with military Sharks! And Dimitri was still there!"

"Yeah, I know," said Future Luke, unfazed. "I spoke to him, actually. But old lionheart would have never have let me go in to recover the past professor by myself. He wouldn't have seen that this was the time to be covert and surreptitious, not to go in full guns blazing."

"I agree with him! What would have happened if you'd been captured?"

"I was prepared," said Future Luke, and his eyes glittered coldly.

"I don't doubt it," said the tall guard, with a grim frown.

"It's not like you, is all," said the other. "You usually plan ahead."

"I did plan ahead," Future Luke maintained, keeping his cold glare fixed on them both. "It's just that those plans didn't include involving anyone else."

"Ffff! Stubborn as a mule, you are," said the tall guard.

"Ah, well... All's well that ends well," said the short guard, rubbing the back of his head. "He's back safe now, that's what matters. You're Layton from ten years ago?"

Layton nodded. "That's correct, sir."

Still frowning, Future Luke said, "We're heading to the time machine right now. Do tell them we're coming. And give home base a call, while you're at it."

"Righty-o," said the tall guard, with a careless wave; and he and his brother went back to the wooden table.

Future Luke gestured for Layton to follow, but Luke stayed where he was for a couple of moments, staring at his future self's back. His icy manner towards the guards had surprised him. At first, Luke had thought that the reason that he was so cross at times was because Dimitri had his parents hostage, but now he was beginning to think there was something else behind it. Because, even with his parents in danger, he knew that he wouldn't take it out on someone else. That wasn't the gentlemanly thing to do...

He quickened his pace to catch up. There was a precipice at the edge of the cavern, and here Luke and Layton followed the adult Luke down a ladder that ended at the entrance to a rock tunnel. The tunnel was just about high enough for Layton's hat to not scrape the ceiling, and was wide enough for about three people.

Future Luke took up the lead and Layton and Luke walked side by side, behind him. They walked for a few paces, when Luke had a sudden thought and said, "Um... You're not going to get into trouble with your commanding officer, are you?"

"Ha!" said Future Luke. "I am the commanding officer. I'm the leader of the resistance front here."

"Really?" said Luke.

Future Luke shrugged, as though it was no big deal. For Luke, though, it was a big deal, because it only brought up more questions. How on earth did he ever manage to get caught up in something like this?

Layton said, "Dimitri referred to you as such in his transmission, did he not?"

Future Luke nodded. "I've been the official London leader for about three years now, but I've been fighting underground for a lot longer. Actually... Between you and me, those two may have been right..."

"How so?" said Layton.

Future Luke sighed. "In coming to find you, I may have... acted more rashly than my allies would have liked. I suppose it's because I really wanted to meet you in person, by myself. I wanted to make sure that you were the real Professor Layton." He paused, and then said in a quiet murmur: "When I saw you, I knew it was you. Of course, your temporal signature checks out - you are ten years younger than my Layton - but I could tell just by looking. No one else would have. Except perhaps Flora. That's why I had to be the one to meet you, and no one else."

"A BLOODY NUISANCE YOU ARE, SOUNDS LIKE," said Polly, not quite within Future Luke's earshot.

"Hey...!" said Luke, feeling himself become defensive. His future self must have had a good reason for acting the way he did. "It's not like you're a shining example of good behaviour yourself, you know."

"TELL YOUR BIG SELF IN FRONT OF US THERE NOT TO DRIVE LIKE A RAVING LUNATIC HIGH ON CRACK-A-LACK COCAINE, AND THEN TALK, WE SHALL."

Now Future Luke stopped abruptly, turning around with folded arms. "You're not one to mince words, are you?"

"TELL IT LIKE IT IS, POLLY DOES."

"But do you have to do it all the time?"

"AN ANIMAL, POLLY IS. AN OUTSIDER, PEEKING INTO THE WORLD OF HUMANS, POLLY IS. IT MEANS THAT SOMETIMES POLLY SEES THINGS THAT HUMANS DO NOT. IF POLLY SEES SOMETHING IS WRONG, POLLY WILL SAY."

"Humph. Well... just be careful with what you say. Not everyone appreciates having their flaws laid out before them, you know."

"THIS POLLY KNOWS. GOOD IDEA TO SHARE THOUGHTS WITH ALL HUMANS, IT IS NOT. BUT POLLY KNOWS THAT ANIMAL SPEAKER IS A GOOD PERSON AT HEART; THUS, IF BEING FOOLISH ANIMAL SPEAKER IS, POLLY WILL SAY. BECAUSE KIND DEEP DOWN, ANIMAL SPEAKER IS. HATE TO SEE ANYTHING BAD HAPPEN, POLLY WOULD."

Gosh, thought Luke. Does he really have that much faith in me? I wonder why?

Indeed, with nothing appearing as a suitable rejoinder to Polly's words, Future Luke relented, and he made a quiet, if slightly reluctant sigh. Layton watched him very closely, with all the scrutiny he would use when scouring a new site for clues - clearly he was making his own conclusions.

In the resulting silence, Luke tilted his head, hearing a gushing sound from somewhere above.

"Is that running water?" he asked.

"Yes, that's the river Fleet," said Future Luke, starting to walk again. "Flows south towards the Thames. It's part of the old Victorian sewer system."

"I didn't know there were tunnels underground like this," said Luke.

"There are ancient caverns and tunnels underneath much of London, as it happens," said Future Luke. "Have you heard of them, Professor?"

"The formation of London Clay underneath London makes it relatively easy to bore underground tunnels at this level. In addition, there are several naturally occurring caverns, and one can find many fossils deep within - if one knows where to look."

"Ha, should have known better than to ask you a question like that." Future Luke wiggled his torch. "This particular network of tunnels and caves used to be a part of Descole's base, way back when. Just think, Professor: years ago, we struggled to keep tabs on his whereabouts, and all that time he was right under our nose."

"I can't imagine Descole being pleased with you taking over the place," said Layton. "How did you manage to wrest it away from him?"

"The base had been abandoned long before we took control of it. We don't know what happened to Descole, but it seems he and Dimitri were competition with each other for a while, and ultimately, with Layton's help, Dimitri was the victor."

"Competition?" said Luke.

"They were trying to see who could build a working time machine first," Future Luke explained. "Fortunately for us, Descole managed to complete his time machine before he was defeated, and we... well, once we found this place, we got it to work for us instead. It wasn't a complete walk in the park; we found a few of his old animal slaves still wearing the control devices, so we had to remove those first."

Oh, thought Luke. Baldrick. "Will we see any of the other animals?"

"If you like. We moved them to our main base, which is in another location entirely. A bit of a way from Hampstead Heath. But first we need to pay a visit to the time machine here. That's our priority right now."

That seemed to bring an end to the current discussion, and thus, onwards they walked. Though not steep, the path was continuously downhill, and so every step felt like they were heading deeper and deeper underground. They passed a few intersections, as well as several checkpoints with guards stationed at their posts, and after about 15 minutes of walking, came to a part of the tunnel where rough, irregular rock became uniform, smooth metal, with several doors leading off it; and finally, at the end of the corridor was a metal door, with a yellow key pad.

After Future Luke typed a code into the keypad, they passed through the door, into a rectangular chamber. The interior was in some ways similar to Cuthbert's lab, in that there were several gear-powered devices with bleeping modules crunching and grinding away on tables, though the room itself was quite substantially larger, and had something like nine or ten scientists working at the desks.

However, it was the airplane-sized cylindrical machine right at the back that was guaranteed to capture the immediate attention of anyone entering the chamber. The gargantuan contraption looked like a see-through battery, the inside of which exhibited several coils spiralling from one end to the other. The left end of the machine possessed a large clock face, while the right end was home to many different coloured buttons. It was contained within a thinly meshed metal cage, which in turn was within protective glass, and there were several pipes running to and from the enclosed area.

"That's Descole's time machine," said Layton. "And it uses... Is that a particle accelerator?"

"Spot on, Professor," said Future Luke.

"And... it truly works?" said Layton. "It doesn't seem very reliable, if you don't mind me saying."

"We don't use it very much," Future Luke admitted. "It was the cause of a wormhole that appeared a month ago at Piccadilly Circus, and that almost gave away our position. But the chief scientist assures me that was a one-off. Let's go to meet him, then you can see for yourself."

Future Luke guided them towards a slim man with a fluffy quiff of hair, and with tiny eyes sitting above a large nose. Though there was an air of frantic busyness with all the other scientists hard at work at their desks, he seemed to be rather calm amidst the chaos. He gave off the air of someone who had his head screwed on right. He looked up at them as they approached, and then took out up a C-shaped device, something like a coronet, from a compartment on his table.

"Ah, there you are, Luke," he said. "Thank goodness you managed to find the professor and your younger self. I hear you had a bit of a run in with Dimitri."

Future Luke looked away, glaring at the floor, and while Luke sympathised, at least where his parents were concerned, he couldn't help but wonder. Was it really that unusual to see Dimitri in central London?

"Yeah," Future Luke said. "Anyway... Professor, this is Horace. He's in charge of research here."

"Greetings," said Layton.

Horace nodded. "Right - well. Let's get straight down to business," he said. He held up the trinket in his hand. "This device will take a record of your temporal waves, if that's all right with you, Professor. All you have to do is put it on your head, and the computer will do the rest."

"What are temporal waves?" said Layton.

"Each person has a temporal 'fingerprint' stored within their memories, depending on how events within the timeline took place. By using this fingerprint, we can determine which timeline a person originates from, amongst other things. In particular, we can use the fingerprint as a template of events from a specific timeline and use the information to restore or repair broken timelines, at least in theory, anyway. In any case, we currently need your temporal waves as a reference point."

"I see..." said Layton. Although he was very good at keeping his thoughts concealed from others, Luke had come to recognise the current look on his face as quiet, suppressed scepticism, though the professor would be far too polite to say anything out loud. Layton was by nature a curious man; he would probably acquiesce to the request and take part anyway just to see what would happen next.

"Please, Professor," said Future Luke, apparently reaching the same conclusion as his younger self. "You'll have to trust me on this one. Dimitri plans to activate his project tomorrow, and your temporal waves are key to stopping him. That's why I brought you here. We need your help."

"Very well."

Layton fitted the coronet around his forehead, and sat down next to the desk. The device was linked to the computer. Once Horace had initiated the procedure, an image of a graph appeared on the computer screen, where an oscillating wave was being drawn across the graph in real time.

After five minutes, the procedure came to a stop, and Horace's face brightened with excitement; he looked like he'd discovered a cure for the common cold. "This is brilliant! This is exactly what we need!"

"Well, glad you think so. It's all Greek to me," said Future Luke, staring at the screen.

Luke agreed. The wave was quite jagged in some places, and in other places was curved. It pretty much went every which way. "It looks kind of crazy," he said.

"That's because you've been doing quite a bit of time travelling," said Horace. "I can tell where exactly you left you left your own time and entered ours, for example. But see here, where the wave goes up, and outside the y-axis? The wave just - cuts off. It goes up and beyond the realm of existence."

"Beyond the realm of existence?" said Layton. "How is that possible?"

"Well... As impossible as it may sound, it would mean that you left space-time, and then returned. The wave comes back into the graph at this point here - that was when you returned to this timeline."

"Infinity," said Layton.

"Infinity?" said Horace. "What about it?"

"We were there," said Luke.

"But - that's - impossible!" said Horace. "And yet..." He glanced at the computer. "It would explain those readings... You'll have to tell me all about it when I've got a spare moment, Professor. I'd be most interested to hear any observations you have about it."

"Certainly," said Layton, smiling at the scientist's enthusiasm.

"But..." Luke frowned, and pointed at the screen. "Look. There's two of them. Places where the wave goes past the axis, I mean."

"The other cut-off point happened a while back," said Horace. "I would place it at a year ago from your present. Eleven years ago, from my point of view."

"Then that would imply that I've been to Infinity before," said Layton. "And a year ago, no less. How strange... I don't remember ever being there before."

"The timing of the first visit is crucial... I'll certainly look into that, as well. But in any case, I've got the data I need. Thank you so much for your co-operation, Professor."

"Pleasure," said Layton, taking off the coronet and standing up.

Horace faced Future Luke. "I'll start on the preparations right away, Luke. I've given you all a brief overview, but I'll need some time to properly analyse the data and implement it accordingly into the time machine. If you come back tomorrow we should be good to go, in plenty of time to stop Dimitri."

"That's excellent news. We'll see you tomorrow then," said Future Luke. He turned to leave and gestured for Layton and his younger self to follow, but Polly made a sharp squawk in the same way that a human clears their throat for attention, and he stopped in his tracks.

"Oh, crikey, almost forgot," Future Luke said. "Horace, could you get someone to take a look at this parrot?"

"Ah!" said Horace, eyes widening. "Is that the parrot with the magnetic field?"

"Goddammit," said Polly.

"Don't worry, you can trust him," Future Luke whistled.

"Well," said Polly, "I trust you, so..." He shuffled across to the other side of Luke's shoulder, and looked up at Horace. "POLLY'S NAME IS POLLY. AWK. PLEASED TO MEETCHOO."

"Nice to meet you too, Polly," said Horace.

"He's a right firecracker," Future Luke warned, "so don't be surprised if you find yourselves having a conversation with him. And make sure you don't frighten him with all your instruments, he's a bit nervous. I promised him some food, so give him something to eat first."

"No worries," said Horace. "It'll be just like looking after Loki. My great-aunt has an African Grey who delights in confusing everyone who visits by deliberately imitating the sound of the doorbell."

"Ah; but Polly is no ordinary parrot," said Layton.

"YES, YES," said Polly. "TIME MACHINE SCIENTIST MUST FIX POLLY, PLEASE. TIRED OF TRAVELLING THROUGH TIME, POLLY IS. TIRED OF BEING CHASED BY DIMITRI, POLLY ALSO IS."

"Wow, you weren't kidding," said Horace, blinking in surprise. "You can actually understand English, Polly? You're not just mimicking, are you?"

"YES, YES. THAT'S RIGHT. UNDERSTAND LANGUAGE OF HUMANS, POLLY DOES. POLLY WANTS A BANANA."

"You sure you don't want a cracker?"

"NO, DAMMIT. NO CRACKERS. FED UP OF CRACKERS BEING SHOVED IN MY FACE BY DAMNED FOOL HUMANS, POLLY IS. A BANANA WILL DO, PLEASE AND THANK YOU. AS LONG AS YOU'RE OFFERING, A BIT OF BOILED CARROT WOULDN'T GO AMISS. CORN ON THE COB AND SOME SWEET POTATO WOULD BE NICE AS WELL."

"Right," said Horace, smiling. "I can already see you're going to liven things up around here. Well, we'll do what we can."

"THANK YOU."

With that, Polly was left in Horace's care, and the group made their way back through the underground caverns to the surface of Hampstead Heath, where Baldrick the crow was waiting patiently. They left the wooded enclosure, and made their way to the top of the fairly steep hill. Once they reached the summit, Luke could see a panoramic view of central London at dusk, a city of twinkling lights, covered by clouds and flying airships alike.

"Parliament Hill," said Layton. Again, Luke felt himself become a little worried for him. The professor's eyes were distant, and he seemed to be lost in thought.

Future Luke pushed yet another button on his remote, and like a ship out of fog, a silver airship came into view from the low-hanging clouds. It was twice the size of Dimitri's ship, and had the same basic shape as the military Sharks, with a large dorsal fin on the top, though its edges were smoother - more of a peaceful whale than a predatory shark. The wind picked up fiercely as it lowered down towards the hill and both Luke and Layton were forced to hold on to their hats.

"That's my ship, the Silver Blaze," said Future Luke.

Crikey! Good thing this one's on our side, thought Luke, as a retractable, metal ladder appeared on the ship's side.

They climbed up the ladder, entering the engine room. It was a room aptly named in that it was nothing but engine, with giant pistons chugging and cogwheels turning. There was a structure in the centre, made of four interlinking metal rings and Luke almost fancied it to be one of the professor's puzzles. Future Luke explained that it was part of the steam fusion power and generated a magnetic field, though as physics wasn't his forte, he didn't elaborate further, instead leading them up another ladder.

The inside of the airship felt like a train carriage on the Molentary Express. Each person had their own quarters, on either side of a corridor; and then there was a canteen section in the middle. The front was where all the technical gear was, and where the pilot, navigator, and radio officer sat.

As Future Luke guided them down the corridor, a large lady, who Luke could only describe as a chunky fat bear, ran up to his future self and put her arms around his neck.

"Flukey-poo!"

Future Luke did not look pleased at all. Apparently he was still in a sour mood and this chubby woman's over-enthusiastic greeting had done little to change that. "Let me go, Belle."

"We were all worried about you!" she said, playfully messing with his hair.

"I'm not a child," said Future Luke, successfully pulling himself out of her grip. He straightened his hair and then folded his arms. "I can take care of myself, dammit."

"Well I never!" said Belle. "Someone's a grumpy little sourpuss!" She pouted and looked away, locking eyes with Layton. She put a hand over her mouth. "Oh my...! You're..."

"Professor Layton, madam."

"But - you're the real Layton? From the past?"

"Oh, what do you think?" said Future Luke crossly. "Did you forget why I went to Russell Square in the first place? Why I sent those letters? Why we need the time machine?"

"But -" she started.

She was interrupted by the sound of one of the doors off the corridor opening; and both Layton and Luke stared as another Layton stormed through this door.

"Triton! You finally dared to show your face, did you?" said the new Layton, and he turned to Layton and Luke. "And I suppose you're from the past, are you?"

Both Layton and Luke gaped, and Luke thought: Golly! I wasn't expecting to see the future Professor Layton here!

"You're..." Layton shook his head ever so slightly, frowning. "You're not me. Who are you?"

"Humph," said the other Layton. "There's no fooling you, is there?"

"Huh?" said Luke.

All became clear as the new Layton took off a disguise, to reveal Don Paolo. He frowned at Future Luke. "And after I went all the way to Dimitri's time machine to rescue that Clive brat! You'd better be grateful."

"How are they both?" said Future Luke.

"Talk to Flora about it," Don Paolo said gruffly. "I'm going down to the engine room." With that, he headed off down the corridor in the opposite direction.

"I can't believe it!" said Luke, after he had left the corridor. Don Paolo, Professor Layton's archenemy... here working together with Future Luke and Future Flora? "You're working with Don Paolo?"

"He may be obnoxious," said Future Luke, "but he's also a genius. He invented the Photon Refractors for our small pods, so we're kind of indebted to him. Without those, we couldn't go sneaking around London so easily."

"See," said Belle to Future Luke, "I thought this Layton was Paul."

"Shouldn't you be at your post, instead of wandering around the ship corridors getting confused?" Future Luke countered, though not quite so harshly this time.

"We're on auto-pilot, thank you kindly," said Belle, with pursed lips. "But if you're in this much of a strop, I think I'll head back."

Luke watched her bound down the corridor. He wasn't really sure what she'd done to get on his future self's bad side, but maybe that was something to worry about at a later time.

Future Luke introduced them to a few more of the crew members, most of whom addressed him as "boss", or "sir", and at this point Luke really wasn't sure whether to be impressed or not. It was odd thinking of himself as the leader of a resistance group dedicated to saving London from the grip of a mad scientist - certainly not a future career he'd ever envisioned himself having.

They reached the flight deck at the front of the airship, where Belle was sitting at a console with lots of buttons, now wearing headphones; and there was a map of south-east England on a screen beside her, with a red line indicating their current course. From first impressions she had seemed to have a flighty nature, and thus, Luke hadn't expected her to be ship navigator, but - well. Appearances could be deceiving.

To the left of Belle was the pilot, who was sitting in the centre and had her back to them. She was slimmer than Belle, and had long, wavy brown hair. Like Belle and Future Luke, she was wearing the same brown-blue army style clothes. She must have heard them come in, because she turned around, and stood up.

"Oh!" said Layton.

"Emmy!" said Luke. Now this made sense to him: Layton's old assistant was adept at flying planes and, indeed, possessed excellent spatial awareness in general, and there were few people that Luke would trust more to fly an aircraft.

"Hello, Emmy," said Layton. "It's been a long time, hasn't it?"

"Too long, I fear," she said.

There was a blend of emotions on Emmy's face as she looked hard into the professor's eyes; Luke couldn't quite place them all. It was a strange mix of wariness, happiness and sadness. "Professor... It really is you. The old you. By which I mean the young you."

Her expression completely changed when she turned her gaze to Luke; she instantly beamed. "And little Luke! Goodness me!"

"Yeah, I don't remember being quite so small," Future Luke said, with a wry grin.

"Hey!" said Luke. "I'm not that small!"

Emmy smirked at him. "Still apprentice number one?"

"Of course!" said Luke.

"That's nice. It..." She hesitated for a moment, averting her gaze to the ground, before looking up at them both with that strange, cheerless smile. "It really is good to see you both."

"It's good to see you too," said Layton. "I sincerely hope I can be of assistance."

"You will be, I'm sure of it. We'll be on our way to the main base, once we pick up Luke's Pod... Luke, I need to give you an update."

Future Luke nodded and faced Luke and Layton. "Why don't you two have something to eat in the canteen, recharge your batteries, and I'll meet you there in three quarters of an hour. Do you remember the way?"

Luke didn't, but Layton said, "Yes, I remember."

"Take Baldrick with you, just in case. You might fancy a walk around the ship."

"Aw, but I'm really hungry now," said Luke, whose stomach had begun to rumble again at the mention of food.

"Same old Luke," said Emmy, chuckling.

Layton and Luke left the cockpit area, and Luke said, "I wonder where Baldrick is?"

"Not to worry, I remember where the canteen is, Luke."

They continued onwards, when suddenly a loud voice boomed, echoing across the corridor.

"THE SOUND OF HOOF BEATS 'CROSS THE LAND! GOOD FOLK, LOCK UP YOUR SON AND DAUGHTER...!"

Luke and Layton exchanged glances. Someone was clearly in a very merry mood. There was a quiet click click click sound, and they both watched as Baldrick hobbled out on the floor in front of them.

"BEWARE THE DEADLY FLASHING BLADE, UNLESS YOU WANT TO END UP SHORTER...!"

"It's you!" said Luke.

"Oh, er, sorry," said the crow, looking up. "Didn't mean to startle you. I like singing. That's my favourite song."

"Clearly," said Luke. "Want to come with us to the canteen?"

"Be delighted," said Baldrick.

After enjoying a full meal (Luke had ordered shepherd's pie) and taking a bit of a breather, Layton and Luke rejoined Future Luke, who took them to his quarters. It was a modest cabin, with a hard bed on one side, and a small table in the centre. His satchel, helmet and various bits and pieces lay strewn across the floor, which helped convince Luke more than ever that this young man was in fact him. Luke wasn't a naturally untidy person; it was just that tidying up required effort, and sometimes he couldn't be bothered to exert any on it when there were more important things to worry about. Though, they'd be in trouble if they hit any turbulence.

They sat around the small table, and Future Luke leaned forwards, forming a steeple with his hands. He seemed to be in a much better mood now than he was earlier; perhaps Emmy had given him some good news. "So..." he said. "What do you both think about London?"

"It's very... different," said Layton. "The new power source that has replaced gas and oil... At its core, it's nuclear fusion. I have observed numerous solar panels throughout the city, obviously installed to absorb energy directly from the Sun, but of course, the Sun is itself a natural fusion reactor."

"The best thing is that cars and buses can fly," said Luke. "If that's not awesome, I don't know what is. And all the cogs and gears in the buildings! It's almost like we're in another world!"

"It's like that over most of the United Kingdom," said Future Luke. "Ten years of investment into the sciences has made us the most technologically advanced country in the world. Have you figured out the problem with it all, though?"

"Dimitri," said Luke straight away. "He looks like he's got some serious control issues."

Future Luke snorted. "That's one way of putting it."

"Does he have the professor - the Prime Minister - under some kind of control?"

Future Luke shut his eyes briefly before opening them again. "Mmm... you're almost there. You see, Dimitri is working with an evil genius - one who set into motion a terrible plan to put all of Britain under his control. Naturally, the general public are unaware of such deception on a grand scale."

Evil genius? thought Luke. He obviously couldn't be talking about Don Paolo, so that left...

"Descole? Those scorpion robots look like his handiwork... and I bet he motorised all of London like that, right? And then there's the mind control devices we saw at the zoo..."

"Good guess," said Future Luke, smiling a little as he leaned back. "But also not quite true. What do you think, Professor? You're awfully quiet all of a sudden."

Layton's face was carefully neutral. "I honestly couldn't say..."

"Really? Well, I won't beat around the bush any more. It's you, Professor. The evil mastermind ruling all of Britain with an iron fist is you. You are the head of the Family. If anyone would order the death of my parents, it would be you, not Dimitri."

"I was afraid you were going to say that..."

The obligatory WHAT? from Luke was accompanied by a firm slam on the table. "I don't believe you!"

Future Luke didn't even flinch. "I don't blame you," he said, shrugging. "If I were you I wouldn't believe it either."

"But... you are me," said Luke, blinking in confusion.

"Yes, I know... the physicists can probably explain all the temporal mechanics stuff better than me."

"Luke... Big Luke..." said Layton quietly, and it broke Luke's heart. He'd never heard the professor's voice sound so small. "How? Please, you must tell me. How did I come to power?"

Luke didn't want to hear any more. This couldn't possibly be true. It was as if something deep inside, an inner truth, dear and true, and close to his heart had been completely and utterly shattered. There was no way the professor could be evil! There had to be something else behind it, surely? But...

But the looks on both adults' faces were scary, especially Layton's, in that they looked like they completely believed it to be true. And Layton was never wrong about these things, was he? Every time he came to a conclusion, it was after spending a long time gathering evidence. Even when the person behind the scheming was himself.

It was all beginning to make sense now. That was why Future Luke was so angry, at times; why Emmy had reacted in the way she had, and perhaps even why Don Paolo had joined their ranks.

The cool, collected confidence; the blithe disregard for authority; the occasional flashes of cold anger... The reason behind Future Luke's erratic behaviour?

Future Layton was evil.

But how could this have happened?

[ - Hidden Memory #4 - ]

Dead.

Dead.

Descole was dead.

Layton stared at the body, unable to move. Dead by his sword.

All his prestige, his reputation, his standing among the academic community - destroyed in one moment of madness. Rationality hadn't just flown out the window. Rationality had been tied to a rocket and sent off to the outer realms of the universe, never to be seen again.

He looked at his hands, trembling. His anger was nowhere near abated, and it swallowed up the shock and the revulsion, becoming even stronger. Once unleashed, this ugly emotion was extremely difficult to contain. He clenched his fists.

He had it coming, he thought, scowling at Descole's prone form. How dare he dishonour Claire's memory?

Like a compass pointing to north, his thoughts swivelled, fixating on one specific point out of many that Dimitri had told him.

Bill had killed Claire. Bill had gone ahead and sold the energy source for an unbelievable amount of money. Bill had become prime minister.

Bill would pay.

[ - 4 - ]