Hexad: The Factory (Time Travel Thriller) Book 1 (18 page)

She said that after giving it long consideration the conclusion she came up with was, "Fuck it, we have to try, right?"

Dale really couldn't argue with that. How could you? Amanda hardly ever swore, she felt it unladylike. Dale knew she really had run out of options.

So they got ready and they jumped.

What Now?

2817 Years Future

Tower bells rang out loud and insistently, crying for help that would never come, the automated system running perfectly even after a thousand years without having a person check on it let alone enter the once-sacred space below.

The sound echoed down empty streets long abandoned, yet signs of life were everywhere. Animals of all description made their homes in the nooks and crannies of the ancient plaza, nests and dens small and large, crumbling masonry making perfect caves and tunnels for the diverse population.

Now the plaza once again saw human feet touch its ancient stone, feet that landed from a few millimeters in the air, making both Dale and Amanda stagger slightly, grasping each other for balance, and if truth be told, to lessen the fear.

The space was vast. Buildings were spread around them in all directions but some distance away as they had landed smack bang in the center of the place where once tens of thousands of people had congregated, there to witness the first ever jump through time of a man that became the wealthiest human in existence and eventually led to the ruination of countless universes throughout time and space.

He became vilified for what he had done, a man so hated that he himself had to abandon his disappearing empire, never to return, leaving so he could keep his life and try to forget what he had done.

Now he was back, stood across the plaza from Dale and Amanda, walking towards them slowly.

Dale watched the figure approach. He felt no fear, well, a little, his palms began to sweat and he felt a little nervous — just like he always did. There was no question of running or jumping though; Dale wasn't really even sure who had found who.

"Detective Inspector Cray," said Dale, nowhere near as surprised as he felt he should be.

"Hello Dale. Amanda." He nodded at her, then he turned his gaze to Dale. "Whichever one she is. Now, I do believe you weren't telling me the whole truth back when I met you for the first few times Dale. You were a bit of a naughty boy, you caused a little bit of trouble you know?"

Dale had a bad feeling. "What kind of trouble?"

"Why, the end of the world of course. The Hexads. I had to know, you were acting so strange, so I took one, and do you know what?"

"What?"

"A few hours later the rest were taken, stolen, and do you know what else?"

"Er, no."

"It was me, a future me, that was the one that did it."

Dale just sighed. "Why don't you tell me all about it," he said reluctantly.

Does this never end?

"Maybe I should," said Cray. "After all, there's not a lot else to do now, is there? It's over, all over."

"Where's Amanda? What have you done with her?"

"She's standing right beside you Dale, are you blind?" Cray smiled a crooked smile, the first time Dale had ever seen him do such a thing.

"Don't try to be funny, it doesn't suit you," said Dale. Cray scowled at him like he dared to talk to him in such a manner.

"Dale, you should watch yourself, there are no laws any longer, we are all that there is, so you would do well to bear that in mind. But if you want to know where an Amanda is then I suppose I can tell you."

Dale waited, then sighed. "Can you please tell me then?"

"Dale, I'm here, there's no need for this. Look, honestly, the other me, she will be fine, as long as we sort out this mess. Where she is now is, well, it doesn't matter. I just want us to be together. We'll put things right then you will have your Amanda, I'll have my Dale, everything will return to exactly how it was before any of this ever happened. And if not... It's still us, this is still us, we will always be together."

Dale was resolute, he had to know, and he found that he was surprisingly calm, as if all along he'd been expecting if not for Cray to be the one behind the Hexad then for something just as weird to happen. Nothing could surprise him any longer. When you're told you are responsible for the deaths of countless realities and you meet The Caretaker, then the rest is just a walk in the park in comparison.

"Tell me."

"She's been taken, taken by those that tried, and failed I might add, to put an end to all this, to stop the end of worlds, the obliteration of the only reality they have ever known. To stop what I did, what you did, and what Amanda, Hector, and countless others did. What all conspired to force realities to warp so severely that the only solution was to empty them of humanity just so they could continue to exist. Now even they have gone; it was too much. We broke it Dale, broke time and space and now all but this one reality are closed to us. They are closed so they can continue to exist; no interference means they will endure. The only question now is if we can reverse the process, save billions upon billions of people from as many universes and allow them to lead lives they never lived. If we succeed then none of this will ever have happened, we'll just go back to who we were. Poof. Gone. You want that?" Cray stared at him like there was another option.

"Yes. What else can we do?"

"We could just give up, stop all this and make the most of it."

"What, happy families you mean? Live in an empty world, just us three and maybe a few other scattered survivors, waiting for it all to finally end? No thank you, I'll take my chances. Amanda?"

"I'm with him," said Amanda, more to Cray than to Dale. "We have to try. I can't give up now. This is the last chance and I mean to put things right."

"Good, me too. But I had to know. This is my fault, our fault, we have to deal with it ourselves."

"What exactly have you done Detective Inspector? How have you done all of this?" Dale needed an explanation. If he was to solve the problem he had to first get to the real cause of the end of the world.

He kind of wished he hadn't asked.

How to Rule the World

2817 Years Future

"You did what!?" Dale realized Cray was absolutely insane.

"I killed myself. I had to, otherwise what has happened would not have happened. It would have been even more confusing."

Amanda stared at Cray for the longest time, trying, just like Dale, to come to terms with the implications of such an act. "If you killed yourself how are you still here? Surely that would wipe you from reality?"

On and on it went, Cray trying to explain what he'd done, how they had come to be in the place they were, Dale's head spinning yet again at the information overload that made a mockery of all that made sense in the world he now felt severely disconnected from.

Cray explained it all as best he could, but it was clear that even he found the whole situation rather bizarre to say the least.

He started at the beginning. It seemed that after the confusion over exactly what it was that Dale and Amanda had 'uncovered' in their garden, the trunk was eventually deemed to be clear in terms of a bomb threat, but nobody really had any idea what the Hexads actually were, and nobody was allowed to touch them.

They had been taken back to police headquarters and Cray had found himself alone with them. He wasn't normally one to go against the wishes of his superiors, but his curiosity simply got the better of him, so while the trunk was waiting to be sent to a specialist facility for further investigation he nervously opened the lid, peered inside at the strange devices and picked one up.

He fiddled with it and as he let go of the lid it slammed shut, making him jump, and he watched in slow motion as the Hexad fell to the floor. He reached down and caught it the split second the domed top made contact with the concrete and found himself in the very plaza they were now in. The end of the world. Except it was different, thronging with people, strange people wearing strange clothes, and as he peered at the Hexad, shock fighting with the new reality, he'd adjusted the settings and dialed it back to just a few hours after his own present and hit the top again, mind not believing what had happened.

He'd tried to contact Dale and Amanda, but they were nowhere to be found, and the only thing he could think of to do was to take the rest of the Hexads as there was no way that it was a good thing — he knew that it would be chaos if others ever got their hands on such potent weapons, for that is what he saw them as.

"So there were people here, in the future?" asked Dale.

"Yes, but when I came back they were gone, as if just taking the Hexads had stopped them ever existing. I was in a panic, my mind was too confused, but I knew, I just knew, that by having taken them then I had done a very bad thing. I figured if I went back and killed myself, then none of it would happen: I wouldn't take the Hexads, everything would be all right. So I did it, I stopped myself, but then I was stuck, living a life I'd already lived, unable to act differently, going through the motions in a dream, deja vu threatening to crush me, but all I could do was what I'd already done, so the whole thing repeated and I've been trying to stop it all ever since. I've jumped to countless timelines, seen myself stand here in the middle of the plaza, watched as I pressed the dome of a Hexad and vanished, only to reappear a minute later, the crowd awed, the noise deafening as people promised to give anything to own such a thing, knowing that I must have gone insane to show off in such a way."

Dale couldn't get it straight. "But you killed yourself, how could you have done any of that?"

Cray sighed. "Don't you see? It had to happen anyway, it was what I'd done, how it all started. So I watched it unfold, then when I took my place and repeated it all, I knew what I'd done, so I did it again."

"Why not just not do any of that?" asked Amanda.

"Because I saw the alternatives, and they were much worse. Whatever I tried, the fact is that I took the Hexads, and I became the wealthiest man in history. If I, this me here," Cray tapped his chest, "didn't take a Hexad then another me would and the result would be the same. A loop that is impossible to escape. If I didn't kill me then I'd go on to do the exact same thing. I couldn't change anything so I had to live it all, it had to happen anyway. Tiny appearances at the right time, just as countless other versions of me had done, popping up, building up the expectation, then selling just a few Hexads, the richest people on the globe giving me billions. Whole countries; impossible wealth."

"And you went along with it?" Dale couldn't believe what he was hearing, or he could, and he wasn't sure which was worse.

"You still don't get it, do you? It happened, so it had to happen. Otherwise we wouldn't be here, wouldn't be able to try to change things. All that has happened has conspired to lead us to this very point. It isn't what I did that is the problem, the people from this time are different, responsible. Sure, we had the Hexads, but we didn't exploit them to a degree that reality was ruined. That was your fault Dale," said Cray, pointing a finger at Dale accusingly.

"What? How is it my fault?"

"Because he gave away the plans for Hexads on the Web, right?" said Amanda, looking pleased with herself for solving the riddle.

Cray just nodded.

What is wrong with them? It's over then, I just have to not give away the plans and nobody will have a Hexad.

"I know what you are thinking," said Cray, "and it won't work. You do release the plans, everyone does end up getting a Hexad, and we do all end up right here where we are now."

"No, as I'm not going to give away the knowledge, so then none of this will have happened. It can't."

Amanda turned to him, a well of sadness spilling out into the empty air. "Dale, you have no choice. If we are to change things, set things right, then we have to be here now. And that means that everything that has happened up until this point has to happen exactly as it already has. There's no alternative."

Dale looked at her, then at Cray, sure they had both had their brains addled by too many jumps.

"But why? If we want to stop this then that's the answer. No Hexads, no problem."

"And we won't be here to be able to stop it, so you have to do what has already been done," said Cray.

"Well what's the point in anything then? We could go around and around like this forever, always trying to catch up with what has already been done. When will we do something different?"

"Now Dale. Now we will do something different. This is it, just us left, and we can stop it all. But first..."

"First I have to go back one more time and unleash the madness on the world? Let Hector mass-produce Hexads and be responsible for the end of countless universes?"

Amanda and Cray nodded. "But you don't end the universes Dale, they are still there, just empty. For now." Amanda felt for his hand and held it tightly. "I love you. I believe in you. We will set this right, all of it."

"I love you too. But how? How will we make this right?"

"Simple," said Cray, "we make sure that what has happened comes to pass, or happens in the past anyway, and then we stop Hexads from ever being. We eradicate the possibility of them having ever existed."

"So how do we do that?"

Cray lowered his head a little, the first time Dale had seen him anything but in charge.

"You aren't going to like it."

"Tell me anyway," sighed Dale. "It can't be any worse than what's happened already."

"You'd be surprised," said Cray.

~~~

34 Years future

Dale jumped in a daze, hardly aware of what he was doing. There were no questions running through his head, no confusion about past, present and future, or the complexities of making what had already happened happen by doing something in the future that was really the past, just to make sure that it had been done even though he'd clearly already done it. He thought none of it.