Chapter 5
"Why have you brought us here?"
"I want to show you something," Cai said slowly. "Something I have shown Madame Cutter here already."
Cai turned to the screens and felt the other man step up beside him. He didn't have to turn to know that Helen was watching from the corner. Glancing down, Cai flicked a few switches and pressed a button. The monitors changed. Instead of showing the interior of the caves they now showed the exterior. A blackened, dead landscape filled the views. The monitors gave a panoramic view of the land around the entrance to the caves.
"This is my land. The southernmost part of the land you and Madame Cutter once called England. It has become a wasteland and my people are forced to hide themselves below ground."
"What happened?"
"Many things," Cai shrugged, "Temperatures dropped. Sea levels fell. Dramatically so."
Cai flicked another switch and the view changed again, this time looking out across a vast rocky canyon.
"What am I looking at?"
"I believe, in your timeline, it was called the English Channel."
The other man drew in his breath sharply.
"When did it dry up?"
"Over a thousand years ago. We have seen many changes since then, though."
"I can imagine."
"We believe that, even when the waters first receded, the land was still fertile and green and pastures grew in the new land. The ice caps grew also and the northern part of the one time island was gradually lost beneath the glaciers."
"How far south did they come?"
"At one time they covered all but the southern tip of the Eurasian Plate. Then, they gradually receded, with the help of mankind, to the point they are at now. Our station is one of those that helps keep them at bay."
"Where are they now?"
"Some two hundred miles north of here."
Cai studied the man's features. He could not see why the Lady Helen had chosen this man as the saviour of his land, the new Albion, but he trusted her and her judgement. He turned back to the monitors.
"Our scientists have studied the causes of the Great Decline and we believe that it began in Madame Cutter's time, or shortly after. We also believe you, and she, to be key to stopping the event. We want you to help us."
"Why should we help you? You've done nothing but keep us prisoner and torture us since we got here."
"Not us," Cai shook his head, "That was our superiors: those who manage this facility. I belong to a hidden group. A group with radical ideas about the Great Decline. Ideas that could allow us to change the past to improve the present, not just control the present to maintain our survival in the future."
"How can I, we, trust you?"
"I have taken a great risk in showing you this. It is my intention to take an even greater one. My colleagues and I know these tunnels well. There are also some of the guards on our side. Together we intend to remove you from these caves. Once you are outside, you will have some distance to travel before you reach they way-point, and the terrain is treacherous. We will supply you with the necessary resources and clothing to reach your way-point in relative safety. After that, you will be on your own."
"Clothing?"
"The outside world is highly radioactive."
"Way-point?"
"A gateway to other times."
"What do you expect us to do when we get there?"
"With your permission, under the guise of interrogation, I wish to rapid-feed your memory with all the pertinent details."
"How..."
"It is technology of our time, not yours. To explain it all would take too long, but suffice it to say that it will impress upon your mind an immense amount of information in a short space of time. There may be some side-effects - short-term loss of your own memories, slight disorientation - but we have already tested the process on Madame Cutter and she will be able to fill in any blanks that appear."
The man looked round to Helen. She smiled up at him, half-heartedly.
"It's true," she said. "Cai asked me not to tell you. He wanted to explain it himself."
"So you think we should do as they ask?"
"I've seen the proof," Helen nodded, "I think we should."
The man looked from her to the monitors then back again, then to Cai.
"You have my permission," he said. "What do we do now?"
XXXX
"How goes the anomaly?" Becker asked, walking up beside Abby.
"Still steady," Abby shrugged. "How goes the diving scientist?"
"Don't ask!"
"Aw," Abby pulled a face of mock sympathy. "Is she not accepting your amazing theories on the bright shiny light and presence of belemnites in the lake?"
"You're the scientists: technically, it's your theories!"
"But our theories aren't the ones you're telling her, are they?"
"No, that would be against government policy."
"Ah," Abby nodded and tried not to laugh at the frustration written plainly across Becker's face. "Tell me something," she said, turning to face him fully. "Have you tried asking her what she thinks?"
"What?" Becker's brow creased and he looked at Abby as if she had just suggested little green men from Mars were landing nearby.
"Ask her for her explanation. If she hasn't got one, then ask her why she doesn't accept yours. If she has got one, act as if it's the right one."
"And if hers is the right one?"
Abby considered this for a moment and glanced over to where Connor was waving his arms at a pair of military divers and trying to communicate what it was he wanted them to look for.
"Offer her a job," she suggested.
XXXX
"Talk me through it again," said Claudia Brown from one side of the chalky cell.
Jenny Lewis sighed and stared at the rough hewn ceiling.
"The anomalies are gateways in time, yes?" Jenny looked over to Claudia to make sure she was following her fully. It was still weird to see a different version of yourself looking back, but she was getting used to it.
"That much I know." Claudia nodded. "Nick worked that out the first time we found one."
Jenny set her teeth at the mention of Nick.
"If you change something in one time, it can affect what happens after it. Correct?"
"I suppose so," Claudia nodded again. "That's logical."
"In my time, I joined the Anomaly Research Centre less than a year ago. You did not exist."
"But..."
"Don't interrupt me!" Jenny snapped. She was tired and thirsty and this was the third time they had been over this story.
"When I met Nick Cutter he told me I was you." Jenny continued, regaining her composure. "He said that something had happened, in the past, and changed you into me. I didn't believe him, I thought he was mad, until his dead wife confirmed his story. I'm willing to bet that it was Helen who is responsible for our current predicament. What she hopes to achieve from this, however, I have no idea!"
Claudia waited a moment, still biting back her response to Jenny's terse command moments earlier. When she was sure Jenny was well past finished, she raised her head.
"But the dates don't make sense. I understand all that. I do. But according to your story, you were at Stephen's funeral on the fourth of March earlier this year. On that very same day, I was standing beside Stephen at Nick's funeral. It's not a date I'm likely to forget!"
XXXX
"You're sure you are feeling okay?" Lester scrutinised Nick like a schoolmaster looking for signs of treachery in a naughty schoolboy.
"Honestly, Lester, I feel fine!" Nick held up both hands in supplication. "I'll feel a whole lot better once I'm out of this bed and back on the job!"
"Very well," Lester sighed, "Goodness knows it's better than having Connor in charge! If it's not him babbling on about some infernal machine, or his girlfriend trying to tear the hair off one of my still recently employed geeks, it's Becker babbling on about some blessed fish woman! Ah, how I long for the days when Ms. Lewis was here to bring some form of sanity to the mix!"
Nick Cutter looked up, frowning.
"Who?"