Johnny Mackintosh and the Spirit of London (24 page)

“It's not a creature,” said Johnny. “But there are people—creatures like me—inside it. They're my friends.”

“Johnny,” called Clara through the window of the taxi, eyeing Ptery rather anxiously. “Are you OK?”

“Yeah … I'm fine,” said Johnny. “Any chance of a lift?”

The taxi pulled up, hovering alongside the ledge with Clara glaring at Johnny from inside. The back door opened and she told him to get in.

“You speak truth,” said Ptery peering inside the car. “I come with you. See flying silver tree myself.”

“I'd like that,” said Johnny. “Follow us—I'll leave the tree open for you,” and he climbed inside the hovering taxi, closed the door and waved through the glass to Ptery, as Alf swung the flying car away and out over the ocean.

“What on earth do you think you were doing?” said Clara angrily, turning round and glaring at Johnny from the front seat. “The asteroid's about to hit, we could start jumping through time at any moment and in case you hadn't noticed this place is full of dinosaurs. You could have been killed.”

It was the first time Clara had ever shouted at him and Johnny felt even worse than when he was being told off in Mrs. Irvine's office. “I'm sorry, I needed to get away,” was all he could manage to mumble.

“Get away?” snapped Clara. “Didn't you think we needed
you here? And when we heard that horrible noise—and then we found your game thingy in the forest, I thought … I thought you were dead.” Clara buried her head in her hands as tears streamed down her cheeks. Johnny reached over, not really sure what to do. He put what he hoped was a comforting arm on her shoulder. “
And
making me look for you in this,” Clara continued. “You know how much I hate heights.” Johnny burst out laughing—he couldn't help himself. After a final attempted-frosty glare Clara joined in. As they laughed she reached down for something and rammed it into his arm.

“Ouch!” he said, withdrawing the arm that Clara had just … injected. “What did you do that for?”

“It doesn't hurt, you big baby,” said Clara, grinning. “It's a pneumatic syringe—to stop the tachyon build up … so you don't slide forward on your own … though I don't see why I should care.” With that Clara turned around to face the front and made a fuss of folding her arms. Johnny looked out the window and waved to Ptery, hoping the dinosaur would be able to see him through the tinted windows. Below the bone-crested creature, the Spirit of London was glowing strangely pink in the very last of the sunset. Alf piloted the flying taxi in through the shuttle bay doors and landed softly between the other taxi and the double-decker bus. “Close the doors, Sol,” Clara shouted. “One of them's trying to get inside.”

“No … wait,” shouted Johnny. “I said he could come and look. He's a friend of mine.”

Clara gave Johnny a withering look. “We are kind of busy,” she said. “It's less than four hours till the asteroid hits … we've got a plan to save Earth that we had to think up without you, but we do need you here to help make it work. Not give dinosaur tours.”

“He did save my life,” said Johnny quietly, but the other two
weren't listening.

“Miss Clara is right, Master Johnny,” said Alf. “You see we have made a rather exciting discovery, but everything is very finely balanced. However, I believe it is possible we can save your planet. Come to the bridge and we can show you.”

Ptery was circling around the shuttle bay screeching away happily. He landed on top of the big red bus and peered down at the three of them. “Ptery,” said Johnny. “Can you stay here a moment? I've just got to go somewhere.”

“I stay here,” said Ptery, who flapped his leathery wings and started whizzing around again. Johnny noticed Alf giving the dinosaur rather anxious looks as they made their way to the antigrav lifts.

“You see, Master Johnny,” said Alf as they stepped out onto the bridge. “What we discovered was that in your own timeline the dinosaurs were made extinct by an asteroid impact.”

“Everyone knows that,” said Johnny. He slumped down into the captain's chair. “But this,” he said pointing at the enormous rock filling Sol's viewscreens, “is a global killer. The clue's in the name. What wiped out the dinosaurs was much smaller—I think ten kilometers across. There's a big difference.”

“A difference,” came Sol's steady female voice, “that corresponds exactly to the maximum storage potential of my dark energy distributor—the energy of the asteroid cannot be destroyed, but it is possible to convert one form into another.”

“Oh,” said Johnny.

“I was rather pleased at spotting that,” said Alf, doing a little dance at his console.

“And you saw the ship's pink?” Clara asked.

“Well … yes,” said Johnny. “It was sunset … wasn't it?”

“It was the tachyon buildup,” said Clara. “Sol's polarized her hull so the ship's clear inside while the outsides are completely covered.”

“Oh,” said Johnny again.

“When the asteroid strikes, Sol will absorb as much of the energy as possible by lifting off directly into the blast wave,” said Alf. Sol was now showing a complex graphic on the screen that was clearly intended to further the explanation.

Clara continued, “So we get to surf the tachyon wave back into the future.”

“Theoretically,” said Sol, “we should return to somewhere close to the time when we left.”

“Theoretically?” asked Johnny, now sitting up in the chair, fully alert.

“If we survive the initial blast and then remain ahead of the wavefront it is unclear as to when, exactly, we shall travel,” continued the ship, “but all being well we can save Earth from total destruction and get very much closer to home.”

“That's a few ifs,” said Johnny. “What are our chances?” Everybody was silent. Clara became very interested in the plican, while Alf seemed suddenly distracted by the control panel in front of him. “Come on, what are they?” Johnny asked again.

It was Sol who responded. “The chances of success are a matter of debate,” said the ship. “While my calculations indicate a probability of 3.265 391% …”

“Three percent!” said Johnny.

“I,” said Alf, looking deadly serious, “calculate our success as near certain.”

“How come?” asked Johnny. “How do you figure that out?”

“We know the future, Johnny. You and Clara have lived it. The Earth will be safe.”

Johnny gulped. “You're sure? Does time really work like that?”

“I believe so,” said Alf. “The conclusion is sound. I do hope you are pleased.”

“Of course,” said Johnny, before turning to face Clara as well,
saying, “thanks—I'm sorry I went out. You've all been brilliant.”

“Yes I rather think we have,” said Alf, now grinning from ear to ear from beneath his bowler hat.

“Hang on,” said Johnny. “We can make it even better … we can save the dinosaurs too.”

“What are you talking about?” Clara asked.

“Come on,” said Johnny getting up from the chair. “You too, Alf. We can use that habitat we were building for the evacuees.”

Johnny ushered the other two into the lift shaft, Clara with her eyes screwed tightly shut. Only a few seconds later they were stepping out into the area that was originally a five-a-side football pitch but that Clara and Johnny had turned into living space for a few hundred people. “Sol,” shouted Johnny urgently. “How long now until impact?”

“Three hours, 21 minutes, 11.34 seconds, approximately,” Sol replied instantly.

“I want to convert this deck into a bio-environment,” said Johnny. “A dinodeck. We'll need to raise the roof about twenty meters, get running water in and fill the place with flora from outside. Can the droids do that?”

“The modifications you request can be made in 126 minutes,” Sol replied.

“Do it,” Johnny shouted back.

“Johnny,” said Clara. “This is crazy. There isn't enough time.”

“Yes there is,” said Johnny. “You heard Sol.”

Before Clara could argue they were interrupted by a high-pitched voice squeaking to one side of them, “And it's not just the loss of the main drive. If you think I trust that plican to fold us anywhere decent you've got another thing coming.”

“Chancellor!” said Johnny, whirling round.

“What?” said the Chancellor. “How did you get there? A moment ago you were right in front of me.” Clara ran forward and pressed the syringe onto the Chancellor's arm. “Get off me,
you horrid girl. What was that?” asked the Chancellor. “I demand to know what's going on?”

“Sorry. No time, now,” said Johnny. “Come on you two. We've got to get cracking. Let's get back to the shuttle bay.” The Chancellor stared at them nonplussed as the pink coloring faded from its robes. Johnny and Clara, laughing, followed by Alf who quickly overtook them, ran across to the lifts which they entered together. “Deck two,” said Johnny and as they whizzed down he added, “I suppose you did the right thing, Clara.”

“Oh yes,” said Alf, sagely. “Otherwise we would have lost that element of the tachyon potential forever.”

They stepped out into the shuttle bay and each covered their ears. Ptery was flying around the curved walls, cawing loudly and the echoes had built to a crescendo. Johnny shouted but he couldn't even hear himself. There was nothing for it but to risk permanent deafness, so he took his hands away from his ears and ran out, waving his arms to attract the dinosaur's attention. Finally Ptery spotted him and spiraled inside, landing back on top of one of the taxis and folding in his wings. He angled his head toward Johnny and said, “I go now. Let me out. Day ends. Best time for fishing.”

“No fishing, Ptery,” said Johnny. “I need you to do something very important.”

Johnny explained as simply as he could that the bright light in the sky was going to hit Ptery's world and that everything was going to die, and the only safe place was going to be if Ptery and some other animals came and lived inside the silver tree.

“You talk stupid,” said Ptery. “I leave now. Want go fishing.”

“No, Ptery,” said Johnny, a little frustrated now. “I tell you what. We're going to have a contest.”

“I choose next,” said Ptery. “Winner's right. What contest?”

So Johnny made up a competition that involved Ptery and
the rest of his flock rounding up as many pairs of boy and girl dinosaurs as they could find and bringing them back into the silver tree as quickly as possible. Whoever brought in the most would be the winner.

“New test,” said Ptery, thoughtfully. He looked at Johnny and, without warning, unfurled his giant wings and flew silently around the Spirit of London's shuttle bay five times. Returning to the top of the taxi he landed, still holding his wings out wide, standing tall and proud. “I agree. We take part. I go tell others. Start now.” And with that the dinosaur lifted off and flew out through the open shuttle bay doors and into the dusk.

“Do you think he understood?” asked Clara.

“Oh yeah,” said Johnny, who'd forgotten Clara had only heard one side of the conversation. “I think he knows what to do.”

“Well if he does come back I say we teach him Universal,” said Clara. “Come on—let's find the Chancellor and tell it what's going on.”

“I guess you're right,” said Johnny, and reluctantly he followed the other two into the lifts.

In a short space of time Sol had done a remarkable job. One side of the ship had somehow opened up enabling her droids to buzz in and out of the giant lower deck, bringing in huge quantities of shrubs and plants and even some trees that must have been many times their own weight. As well as the conifers, there were even the odd oak and sycamore. The space around the trees was filled with a few grasses but mainly the exotic shrubs and ferns Johnny had seen in the forest. Three-quarters of the deck had already turned into a huge prehistoric bio-environment before Ptery flew, with what at first glance looked like an ostrich in his claws, through the great tear Sol had opened up in her walls. The dinosaur being carried was yellow, with a small head,
tiny arms and a great fat tail. Ptery swooped down, letting it go just above the ground before turning and flying out past another of his kind bringing the second of the pair. They were soon followed by a gray-green creature with one horn just above its parrot-like beak, two more on top of its head and a round bony plate behind them. It could only be a baby triceratops. As the droids finished covering the whole area, more and more pteradons came like giant bats, cawing into the new habitat and releasing their cargo. Johnny asked Sol to separate the different species with force fields so they didn't tear each other apart. As the area filled Sol announced there were thirty minutes to impact. Johnny said he'd be up as soon as Ptery was safely inside and went over to the rip in the ship's side to keep a look out. As he watched, pairs of pteradons carried in some much bigger specimens for the dinodeck, each at one end of their very heavy loads. Among them were a couple of T. Rexes, which he was very unsure about having on board, but he couldn't very well send them back now. Finally, he saw Ptery flying in with a little version of the club-tailed dinosaur Johnny had first seen in the forest.