City of Time (6 page)

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the fire, watching the steam coming off his still-damp trousers. When Wesley came back he brought several fresh fish, cleaned and ready to cook. He put them on a stick and started to grill them over the fire. As the smell filled the room, Owen realized he was starving.

Cati had brought some bread in a leather bag that had somehow remained almost dry. They ate the fish and bread with their fingers, in silence. Owen couldn't remember eating anything more delicious.

When they had finished every scrap, Wesley stood up and stretched. His ribs showed through his ragged clothes and worry made his face look even more gaunt than usual.

"We should get back to the Workhouse," Cati said. But Wesley had gone to the window and was staring out to sea. "What is it?"

"Look!" he said. In the distance a group of seals was racing across the ocean surface. "Killer whales chasing them," Wesley said. "Which is odd. Too far north for a whale this time of year."

Owen joined them at the window. He could see the whale fins cutting the water behind the seals, who raced frantically toward a shoal of rocks. Just when he thought they had made it, a killer whale burst from the water beneath the seals. It seized one in its jaws and rose high in the air, the seal writhing frantically.

"The poor seal," Cati breathed.

"It's the way of the sea," Wesley said.

The whale rose several meters from the water and

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turned as if to crash down nose first. But as they watched it they found they were watching not a live whale but the enormous skeleton of a whale, hanging for a moment in midair, the seal still held in the jaws of bone. Then, with a strange, muted splash, the bones plunged to the ocean and were gone.

Wesley stared at Owen and Cati, grim-faced. "We're in big trouble, ain't we?"

Mary White knew that it had to be now. She had gone out to her garden that morning. Usually it was her favorite place at this time of year, full of ripe fruit and autumn reds and browns. But now all was gray and withered. Normally she kept the radio on for company, and this morning she caught snatches of it coming through the window. They were talking about un explained crop failures, deaths of livestock.

It is happening quickly
, she thought. Her contribution would be small and would cost her dear, but she had to move now.

She checked the front of the shop. Johnston's truck was no longer there. He probably had plenty of spies around during the day to let him know if she ventured out, but she didn't care if they saw her. All she had to do was get to Owen's house. It didn't matter what happened on the way back. She put on her coat and grabbed a walking stick from the stand in the hall. Then she took a deep breath and stepped out into the road.

It was quiet. The road was never busy. Mary put her

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hand up to her hair, to make sure the ornate hairpin was still there, and started to walk. She could feel her heart beating in her chest. The world seemed more alive than she had ever known it, and more under threat.
You just do your part
, she said to herself,
and let others worry about the rest of it
.

It was only a few minutes to Owen's house, but it seemed to take forever. And the garden gate squealed so loudly.
Fit to wake the dead
, Mary thought, then shuddered at the idea. She followed the overgrown garden path around the corner of the house and slipped in through the kitchen door. She heard a gentle humming sound from the living room and followed it.

Owen's mother was standing at the table arranging a vase of flowers. The room was untidy and dusty. There were dirty dishes on the floor and one of the curtains hung limply from a broken rail. But Owen's mother did not seem to notice. In contrast, the flower display was beautiful and delicate.

"Hello, Martha," Mary said gently.

Owen's mother turned round, smiling when she saw the old woman. "Mary, it's good to see you!" she said. "Come into the kitchen. I'll make you some tea." She looked worried then. "I'm not sure if there is any tea. But anyway. You look great."

"So do you," Mary said, though Martha looked pale and in need of makeup and a hairbrush. When Owen called at the shop, Mary always asked after his mother and his silence told her that things were not well. As she

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watched, Martha moved her hands in front of her face distractedly, almost as if invisible cobwebs were hanging in her face and tickling her.

"Come over here and sit down," Mary said, taking Martha by the hand. She led her to the sofa, where she had to clear old magazines and clothes from the cushions first. "Tell me, what do you remember?"

Owen's mother's eyes met hers. "Remember?" she asked. "What do you mean? I ... do I ...? I was married once. Mary, do you remember him? We got married in ... Where did we get married?"

Mary sighed. There was a lot to do. Martha's mind had been frozen all the way through. But she had to be brought back and it would take all the strength Mary possessed, that and more perhaps. With a surprisingly strong grip, she took hold of both of Martha's hands and started to talk.

After a few minutes Martha began to shake her head, trying to break the old woman's grip, but it was no good. Tears streamed down her face and then she began to wail.

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Chapter 7

Owen, Wesley, and Cati moved upriver swiftly and silently. They didn't see any more signs of what was happening to time. They didn't need to. Owen thought that the sight of the skeletal whale would stay with him forever.

When they reached the Skyward they found Dr. Diamond surrounded by dusty volumes piled high on the floor. The walls were covered in maps. Some of the books were ancient, with strange astronomical symbols. Others looked more modern, with titles such as
Strata in Time: A Mapmaker's Approach
and
Time Trails of the Late Period
. One book was a thumbed paperback; the cover showed a wintry city scene and the title was
Hadima: A Street Guide Including Restaurant Supplement
.

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Owen was bursting to tell Dr. Diamond what he had found, but had to wait as the man shook Wesley's hand gravely. Wesley told him about the sleeping children and the decay that surrounded them.

Dr. Diamond nodded. "Something similar is happening in our own Starry. We have to move quickly. I've been checking the books. They all point toward the same thing. The flow of time into this world is slowly but surely drying up--"

"Owen found the entrance to the City of Time," Cati interrupted.

"Did he now," Dr. Diamond said, wheeling around sharply.

Quickly Owen told him about the earthquake and the water that had swept him into the storm drain, and what he had found beyond it.

"So the tremor unsealed the entrance?" Dr. Diamond asked, his shrewd eyes flickering from one to the other.

Owen looked the doctor in the eye. "No," he said. "I guessed where it was and fired at it with the magno gun, which weakened the wall."

"You heard what I said about not reopening it?" Dr. Diamond said. Cati had never seen him like this. His eyes bored into Owen.

"I heard," Owen said quietly.

"It was forbidden," Dr. Diamond said. He turned to Cati. "Your father would never have permitted this!"

Owen could see tears spring to her eyes. "I didn't ask

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for permission," he said angrily. "It was nothing to do with her! Besides, her father sent the message."

Dr. Diamond glowered at him. "You will have to answer for this to the Convoke."

"There won't be any bleedin' Convoke if we don't do something!" Wesley broke in. "What's done is done. Let's get on with it!"

"Owen, your father was impulsive too," Dr. Diamond said, almost to himself, the fire fading from his eyes, "and we do not know if he did good or evil. Very well. The tunnel is open. We will go to Hadima and find a tempod and perhaps set the world to rights. For now."

Owen looked away, unable to meet Dr. Diamond's eyes.

"What about the Sleepers?" Wesley said.

"We can do nothing for them until we fix time. You will have to watch the Workhouse, Wesley."

"On my own?"

"Owen will have to wake Pieta," the doctor decided.

Owen got wearily to his feet. Since he had roused Wesley in the Warehouse he'd felt tired, almost as if a little of the darkness he'd penetrated to reach Wesley had seeped into his mind. And he knew that Pieta would be harder to wake. Would her mind help him or fight him?

"Let's go," he said. "I can try to wake one more at least."

"Go with him, Wesley," Dr. Diamond said. "Cati can help me get ready here."

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"Get ready?" Cati said.

"Yes," Dr. Diamond said. "Can you not feel it? Time is exhausted here. If we are going to the City, we must go soon."

After Owen and Wesley left, Dr. Diamond started to pick out maps and books from the pile on the floor and pack them into a leather attaché case with his initials on it.

"Now, to be practical, Cati," he said. "Both ovens are full of fresh bread and cakes we can use for the journey. I want you to pack them into this!" With a triumphant flourish, the doctor produced an ancient rucksack. The canvas was faded and the whole thing smelled of mothballs, but it was enormous.

Resisting the temptation to hold her nose, Cati took it from him and started taking loaves from the oven, putting them on a rack to cool. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the scientist packing all sorts of strange instruments and devices. She had known Dr. Diamond all her life, but there were times, like now, when his blue eyes hid more than they revealed.

A few miles away, Mary White was almost at the end of her strength, but she had called Owen's mother back and healed her. Martha was sleeping now. Mary un fastened the pin from her hair. Her gray hair cascaded down and in the dimness of the room she saw her reflection in a mirror and recognized the shadow of the long-haired, wild young girl that she had been long

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ago. Despite her weariness she smiled to herself, then bent and fastened the pin in Martha's hair. She could do no more.

Outside, Mary went slowly down the path. It was dusk now and the white shapes of moths flickered in the hedges. She stopped at a field gate and looked down toward the river. A pale mist was covering the fields and when she looked up she saw a full moon low in the sky. She frowned. The full moon was not due for another three weeks.

Slowly and painfully she walked on. Turning the last corner, she saw the shop in front of her. She moved forward, and as she did so Johnston stepped out of the shadows, teeth bared in a wolfish grin.

"Where are you going, Mary White?"

"I am going home, Mr. Johnston," she said, her own voice sounding faint and far away.

"Do you like the moon, Mary?" Johnston said, his grin widening.

Mary shook her head. She was tired and confused and could no longer see clearly. Johnston watched as Mary pitched forward onto the roadway. Her hands reached out for a moment as if to fend something off, and then she was still.

At the Workhouse, Dr. Diamond looked worried. He had a model of the solar system that moved in sequence. Powered by magno, there were no strings to keep the planets in the air. Cati and Dr. Diamond both heard the

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clattering noise from it. When they looked at the model, they could see that the motion of the planets was distorted, with the moon in particular swinging in a wild orbit that loomed nearer to the earth.

"What is it?" Cati asked.

"Time and the fabric of space are intimately connected," Dr. Diamond said. "When one is out of shape, the other is also affected. Quickly now, get three sleeping bags from the back room and pack them. What is keeping Owen and Wesley?"

The two boys were at the river. Wesley stood looking across the fields while Owen ducked his head into the cold stream. He felt as if he could lie down and sleep. Waking Pieta had been even harder than he had thought. Wesley had unlocked the concealed stone door of the Starry for him and they had gone in. The Resisters sleeping there did not seem as disturbed as the Raggie children, but Owen could now sense an unease in the air, a feeling that things weren't quite right.

They found Pieta slightly apart from the others, sleeping with her two children on either side of her. Her face was stern and beautiful. When Owen bent over to wake her, her mind fought with his and mocked him by slipping off into deeper and darker spaces. Where the others had sought help, Pieta's sleeping mind twisted away. Only when he was at the absolute limit of his strength did she come toward him.

When her eyes snapped open, he fell back exhausted.

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A sardonic smile creased her face and she swung her legs off the bed in an easy catlike motion, looking first for her weapon of choice--the magno whip she wielded with such fearsome power.

"Must be some fighting to be done, if you're waking me first," she said.

"Reckon so," Wesley said.

"What about the others?" Pieta said, looking at her children.

"I can't," Owen said. "I don't have enough strength."

Pieta looked at him long and hard, then reached out and took his chin in her hand. "Make sure you come back later and wake them then, young Owen. Do you hear me?"

He nodded dumbly. Pieta bent swiftly and kissed each of her children on the forehead, then turned and strode out of the Starry without looking back.

Wesley helped Owen to his feet. "A thank-you would have been nice," Owen said, rubbing his back where he had fallen.

"Not our Pieta's style," Wesley said, looking after her admiringly. "But she's a good one in a fight."

Leaning on Wesley's shoulder, Owen made his way to the door again. He was glad to leave the stale atmosphere in the Starry and felt nothing but relief when Wesley turned the key in the door. Then he felt guilty when he thought of his friends still sleeping in there--