City of Time (7 page)

67

Rutgar and Contessa, even the subtle and dangerous Samual.

After Owen had ducked his head in the stream, the two boys ran back to the Workhouse. Owen worked hard to keep up with Wesley, who ran lightly in his bare feet, oblivious to the stones and branches that littered the path. They had just reached the Workhouse when what looked like a long coil of blue flame licked the ground in front of Wesley's bare toes. Wesley stopped dead and looked up.

Pieta returned her whip to her belt and dropped to the ground from the branch she had been sitting on.

"You want to watch out with that whip," Wesley said. "I need them toes."

"I need to know what's going on," Pieta said, "so get talking, fish boy."

"There's not enough time," Owen said.

"What?" Pieta's eyes narrowed.

"There isn't enough time left to keep our world going," Wesley said. "So Dr. Diamond says, anyway."

Pieta moved her head from side to side, sensing the air. "Time doesn't feel right," she said.

"Stale. Is that what you feel?" Owen said.

"Yes," she said. "Stale and old and still. This is not something I can fight with my whip, boys. This is beyond Pieta."

Owen and Wesley looked at each other. She sounded worried, even afraid.

68

* * *

Moonlight streamed in through the windows and woke Owen's mother where she lay on the sofa. She snapped awake, instinctively listening for signs of danger. All she could hear was the drip of a tap somewhere and, outside, the rustle of some little night creature in the bushes.

She shot bolt upright. It was wrong that there should be no noise in the house. Where was Owen? Where was Mary? All of a sudden memory came flooding back. Memory that had been locked away for years, sharp and painful. What had happened? How long had she wandered round in a fog?

Martha recalled the years she had spent in this tiny house with Owen, barely able to function, all that she had been locked away in her mind. She remembered everything now. The trip to the City. The Workhouse. Owen's father. Grief stabbed her. He was gone. His car had driven into the harbor when Owen was a baby. She bowed her head and felt the tears spring to her eyes.

But beneath it all there was a resolve that had not diminished with the years. Martha straightened again and stood up. She had to find Owen. She moved to the bottom of the stairs and listened, then mounted the stairs, instinct telling her not to switch on the light.

His room was empty. She had expected it to be. Her eyes swept over it. The old model plane hanging from the ceiling. Owen's guitar. Then she saw the trunk under the window and knew it at once. Swiftly she knelt in

69

front of it. It was Gobillard's trunk, and in place of a lock, the Mortmain. She placed her hands on the trunk. She knew that catastrophe had been removed from the world and been sealed in the trunk. But by whose hand?

Surely
, she thought,
not Owen's? He's only a boy. But where is he?

She sat on the bed and tried to think. Her son was out there in the world on his own. She had neglected him for too long. Lifting his pillow, she held it to her face so that she could smell him. She put her arms around it and held it, as if the pillow was Owen.

Mary
, she thought. It had been Mary who awakened her. Perhaps she knew something?

Martha went quickly down the stairs and out the front door. She had never seen the moon so bright. She could see the road clearly. Trees and bushes cast strange shadows across it. She walked fast, all of her senses alert to danger. This state reminded her of the way she had once been, when every waking hour had seemed full of peril. Every few meters she stopped and listened, but she was alone.

Then she rounded the bend before Mary's shop. She thought the shape on the ground was a shadow, until she realized it was a body. She ran forward. It was Mary.

Martha put her hand on Mary's face. It was very cold and at first she thought it was the chill of the grave. But as she bent to put her ear to Mary's chest, the old woman moaned and her eyes opened. Martha looked into them. Mary was trying to communicate, but she

70

didn't have the power to speak. With a strength that belied her slender frame, Martha stooped and lifted the old woman.

In Mary's cottage, Martha lit a fire and placed Mary on a chair near it. She heated some soup and held the cup to the older woman's mouth. "It'll warm you up."

"No, what chills me will never be warm again," Mary said faintly. "Johnston used the Harsh cold against me."

Martha shivered. The name of the great enemy and their world stirred a cold memory.

"But the Harsh are not the immediate danger this time. ..."

Mary's breath rasped and Martha could see the great effort she was making to speak. Mary took Martha's hand. "Time ... is in danger. I'm sorry, Martha, I couldn't wake you until now. ..."

"Why not?" Martha asked. There were tears in her eyes. "And where is Owen?" But Mary's eyes had closed again and she did not reply.

Martha sat with the old woman. And as she watched, her memory became more complete. She remembered things that made her smile. Owen as a baby looking up at her and laughing for the first time. She remembered things that caused her pain, that made tears of regret and longing spring to her eyes. And she remembered some things that were so hurtful she almost wished that Mary had not wakened her.

The hours passed, but Mary did not speak again.

71

When Martha touched her skin it was colder than it seemed possible for skin to be. But still the old woman's breath came.

Martha stood up. She had to stay with Mary, who was the only person who could tell her where Owen was. She stretched and ran her hands through her hair.

"Ouch!" she exclaimed. She had pricked her finger.

Carefully Martha reached up and removed the long, thin key that Mary had hidden in her hair. She turned it over in her hand, frowning. The key also stirred a memory, something she couldn't quite grasp.

When the boys returned to the Skyward, Dr. Diamond barely greeted Pieta. He had dragged a large blackboard into the middle of the room and was working frantically on it. Owen could see equations interspersed with arcs of what looked like planets.

Cati watched Dr. Diamond. "What's going on?" she whispered to Wesley.

Suddenly Dr. Diamond threw down his chalk and strode toward the door. "Follow me!"

Puzzled, they did so, even Pieta. Outside it was almost as bright as day, the moon huge in the sky. They followed the doctor to the roof of the Workhouse, where he stood with his hands on the crumbling parapet, looking up into the sky.

"She's too close," Wesley said quietly. "Ain't that right?"

72

"Yes, Wesley," the scientist said. "The shortage of time means many things, all of them serious, but this is the most immediate problem."

"What is?" Cati asked.

"The fabric of space and time is loosening," Dr. Diamond said, "and as it does so, gravity is distorting. In this case, getting stronger. The earth is starting to pull the moon closer."

"Gravity keeps the moon in orbit around the earth," Owen said.

"That's right," Dr. Diamond said, "and compared to other planets, the moon is very close to us. At the moment too close. You can see how large it is."

"What do you mean by too close?" Pieta said.

"Soon gravity will bring the moon to within a few hundred miles of the earth, and then--"

"It'll hit us?" Cati said, staring at the moon as if she'd never seen it before.

"It won't need to," Dr. Diamond said somberly. "When the moon is so close it will cause havoc--massive tides, tsunamis ... The earthquakes have started already. But yes, Cati, eventually it will strike the earth."

"When, Doctor?" Owen said. "How long have we got?"

"I don't know exactly," Dr. Diamond said, "but I think it is only a matter of days."

73

Chapter 8

Dr. Diamond equipped Owen and Cati with magno torches, almost like lanterns with handles. He fetched warm leather flying jackets for both of them and flying hats with flaps that went down over their ears. Cati already wore a pair of leather boots and the doctor sent her to get a pair for Owen.

When Owen was dressed he looked up and saw Cati and Wesley grinning at him. "I feel ridiculous!"

"You look ... wonderful," Cati said, choking back a giggle.

"Put your own hat on," Dr. Diamond said. "From what little I've learned about where we're going, we'll need warm clothing." He was wearing the biggest flying jacket that Owen had ever seen, and his flying hat had goggles attached. "Pieta ..."

74

"I was wondering when you'd get around to me," the tall woman said.

"I want you and Wesley--"

"To guard the Starry and the Raggies, and to poke the moon away with sticks if it gets too close."

"If you can, yes. And watch out for Johnston."

"Wait," Pieta said. She took the doctor aside, her face serious. "This is too sudden. Do you know where you are going and what you are going into? The old stories describe Hadima as a dangerous place."

"It's not like you to be cautious, Pieta."

"There is a difference between taking a risk and being foolhardy. You have told me nothing of what you intend."

"I'm sorry, Pieta. Things have happened so fast." And he told her about the Sub-Commandant's message.

"I see," she said, frowning. "You have to find this tempod and release the time from it. But even if you find it, how will you know what to do?"

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," the doctor said.

"I shouldn't be going. I am the Watcher," Cati suddenly burst out. "I should stay and watch."

"Your watch here is over for now, Cati," Dr. Diamond said gently, "and you cannot defend the Sleepers as Pieta can. We need you with us. And Owen--"

"Is the Navigator," Pieta finished his sentence. "But you don't have anyone who can defend you."

75

"I don't think our task will be resolved by fighting," said the doctor softly. "There is no choice. Guard this place for us, Pieta, so that we have somewhere to come back to. I am sure Johnston is up to some mischief."

Pieta looked at him long and hard. "I don't know if you're right, but I don't know that you're wrong either. If there was more time ..."

"If there was ..." Dr. Diamond nodded and let the sentence hang in the air.

Pieta sighed and nodded too. She stepped back and put her strong arm around Wesley's thin shoulders. He looked surprised at the gesture. "Well, fish boy, looks like you and me holding the fort."

"I wish I knew what they mean when they call me the Navigator like that," Owen whispered to Cati.

"Why don't you ask?" she whispered back.

But Owen stayed silent. The title had some connection with his father and he was never sure whether this was a good or bad thing.

"We must go," Dr. Diamond called softly. "Look!" At first Owen couldn't see what he was pointing at. Then he saw the way the river seemed to be flowing the wrong way in the moonlight.

"It's the tide!" Wesley exclaimed. "The moon made it do another surge."

They stared in silence at the gushing threads of water that shone silvery in the moonlight, spilling into the hoofprints where cattle drank at the river.

76

"The surge is dying," Wesley said. "You'd best be off before it comes up again."

They set off in single file walking downriver, away from the Workhouse and Owen's house, Dr. Diamond burdened under his huge rucksack and attaché case, Owen and Cati carrying the magno torches, although they didn't need them yet.

Owen turned back and saw Pieta and Wesley silhouetted in the moonlight. Wesley raised a hand in the air, but Pieta stood without moving as if she had been carved there. Then the friends turned a bend in the river and they were gone.

"The Resisters are in good hands," Dr. Diamond said. "Now, Owen, tell me more about this place you found."

Owen drew level and started to describe the tunnel opening, the courtyard, and Gobillard's shop. The doctor questioned him closely about the truck that was sitting in the courtyard. Were its tires punctured? Did it look as if it had been used recently? Were there fresh tire tracks?

Before long they reached the place where the river started to flow through the town. The high walls on either side cut out the light from the moon, but Dr. Diamond wouldn't let them use the magno torches yet.

"There are too many people about," Dr. Diamond said. "Look."

A couple leaned over the bridge, looking down at the water. The man said something and the woman

77