No True Echo (18 page)

I entered a memory from before I knew what memory was. I was shuffling and struggling. My mind was awash with confused, wordless emotions. It was dark and something was hurting my shoulders. My mother stood over me. She looked like she did in the photograph, although I knew her more by smell than sight. She finished fiddling with the two strong straps holding me down and I felt the buckle pinch my thigh. When I cried out in pain, I heard the shrill shriek of a baby.

‘Look, I'm sorry, darling,' said my mother, ‘but if you didn't make such a fuss, you wouldn't get hurt, would you?'

‘Where are you taking him?' Ruby was standing behind my mother. The rain came down hard on her uncovered head.

‘Go back inside, woman,' said Melody.

‘At least wait until it stops raining. It's not safe to drive in this.'

‘He's safer with me than with you,' replied Melody.

‘You're overreacting. Everyone leaves their door unlocked around here.'

‘Not when they're supposed to be looking after their grandson. You had that music up so loud you couldn't even hear him crying.'

‘I can hear him crying now,' said Ruby pointedly. ‘You'll only be back. You need my help. You never have any time for the lad.'

‘I wouldn't expect you to understand,' yelled Melody. ‘David and I are working on something very important.

‘More important than your child?'

‘The child has nothing to do with David. He's mine. Do you understand? Mine.'

‘The child has a name,' said Ruby.

Melody slammed the car door shut so I couldn't hear what was said, then she got into the driver's seat and turned the key. She tried the seatbelt but it didn't come, so she gave up and put the car into gear. I had to warn her.

‘Thurseaber,' I managed to say. My tongue felt swollen and oversized in my infant mouth.

‘Don't worry, darling. Everything's going to be all right.'

Out of the window I could see Ruby standing in the doorway. The rain on the car roof sounded like thunder. The car moved and I felt a wave of drowsiness. I fought to stay awake. ‘Thurseaber, thurseaber,' I muttered.

‘Quiet down now, darling.'

She leaned over and fumbled with her bag, causing the car to swerve. She got it back under control and pulled out her mobile phone. With her left thumb, she dialled a number, then clicked it on to speaker phone.

‘Hello?' It was Maguire's voice. ‘Melody? Where are you? What's wrong?'

‘I'm driving,' she replied. ‘I'm leaving.'

‘Come on, don't get like this over a little argument.'

‘You called me an unfit mother.'

‘I didn't mean it like that. It was you who said the baby was getting in the way of our work.'

‘THURSEABER,' I screamed.

‘Please, darling, give it a rest,' yelled Melody.

‘What's going on?' said Maguire. ‘Are you driving?'

‘It's not your concern.'

‘It is my car, though, isn't it? You shouldn't be driving in weather like this. Please, come round and we can talk about it.'

‘There's nothing to talk about. We're leaving. We're getting out of this godforsaken place. I'm going to start over.'

‘And throw away everything we're trying to do?' said Maguire.

‘I wouldn't be throwing away anything. I am perfectly capable of completing the project with or without you.'

‘I've given up everything for this,' said Maguire.

‘So have I.'

‘What did you have to give up?'

‘Goodbye, David.'

My mother only looked down to disconnect the call but it was long enough. We had reached the corner. I felt the skid of the wheel. I heard screaming, although I don't know whether it was her, me, or the sound of the brakes. As the car flew off the road, my mother shot out of her seat and went straight through the windscreen. I felt moisture splatter my skin but I didn't know if it was blood or rain.

‘The court will now hear the testimony of Mr Edward Dane.'

The judge sat up high in the courtroom. Scarlett was standing in front of me, wearing the same uniform as before. My mother was next to a man I didn't recognise. Maguire was in another box across the room from me. The rest of the large room was filled with people. Most were strangers but some were familiar from the press conference. Everyone looked older than before.

‘Are you ready to testify, Eddie?' asked Scarlett.

‘What?' I replied.

‘The witness seems a bit disorientated,' said the judge.

‘With respect, your honour,' said Scarlett, ‘Eddie has been echo freefalling since the death of his originating self. As well as seeing countless glimpses of his own future, he has just sat helplessly and watched his mother's death. It would be more surprising if he were not disorientated.'

‘Is that correct, Mr Dane?' said the judge. ‘Did you just witness the death of Melody Dane?'

I nodded.

‘Let the record show that the witness nodded,' said the judge.

‘Please, in your own time, Eddie, tell us what you saw,' said Scarlett.

‘It was raining,' I said. ‘My mother was arguing with Ruby.'

‘You're referring to Ruby Dane, your grandmother?' said Scarlett.

‘She doesn't like the G-word,' I said.

‘What were they arguing about?' asked the judge.

‘Ruby had left the door unlocked while she was looking after me or something.'

‘May I ask the relevance of this?' said the man next to my mother.

‘I think we all want as clear a view of the events as possible,' said the judge, ‘so please hold back any questions until the end of the testimony.' He turned back to me. ‘Please continue, but bear in mind that you are under oath and that the consequences of your testimony will have serious ramifications  …  for everyone.'

I looked at my mother, trying to read her expression. Something lurked behind her eyes but I couldn't tell if it was fear, anger or something else. All my life, she had been nothing more than an echo of a whispered word. In reality she was much more complex than that, so much darker and brighter than I could have ever imagined.

‘Maguire is innocent,' I said. ‘He didn't kill her. It was an accident. Melody made a phone call while driving without a seatbelt. That's why she died.'

The courtroom fell quiet except for Melody who was urgently whispering to the man next to her.

‘Melody, I understand,' I said. ‘I always felt cheated too. I felt wronged. I wanted someone to blame but it was just a stupid accident. It was nothing.'

‘To be clear,' said Scarlett, ‘are you saying that David Maguire did not play any part in the death of Melody Dane?'

‘Yes,' I said.

The judge had to bring his gavel down several times to silence the court. Maguire summoned Scarlett over and, once order had been regained, she said, ‘In view of this evidence, Professor Maguire would like to alter his statement.'

‘You have something to say, Professor Maguire?' said the judge.

Maguire stood up, glanced at me, then addressed the judge. ‘Melody Dane was my friend,' he said. ‘I never cared whether the child was mine but I did care about her. Together, Melody and I shared a common pursuit. We shared a dream. We knew we would change the world, but the world had other ideas. It removed her from that equation. So when I discovered it was possible to alter the past, Melody was my first thought. If it was possible to change the world's mistakes, I would correct that one. I went back and stopped her dying.'

‘How?' asked the judge.

‘I had the seatbelt in my car fixed,' replied Maguire.

‘And what had happened when you arrived back from the jump?' enquired the judge.

‘She was alive. She never died.'

‘But that means that ours is not the originating version,' said the judge.

‘That is correct,' said Maguire. ‘This policy has always been suicidal because it was decided in a world created when I saved Melody. Many believe that all these versions are awfully messy but life is mess. It is messy and chaotic and strange and, as far as I'm concerned, endlessly wondrous. When I saved Melody's life I was correcting an accident that should never have happened.'

‘He's lying,' yelled Melody. The man next to her tugged her sleeve and urged her to sit down but there was no containing her anger. ‘You've got it the wrong way round. You can't believe his testimony over mine. This witness has been manipulated by the ETA agent. David Maguire is a murderer.
This
is the originating version.'

‘Silence,' shouted the judge forcibly.

Melody sat back down.

‘What I would like to know was why it has taken the professor this long to tell the truth,' said the judge. ‘You stood here accused of murder when, in fact, we've just heard that you had saved the life you were accused of taking. Why would you not use this as your defence from the start?'

Maguire's reply was spoken loudly enough for the courtroom to hear but it was directed at Melody. ‘You deserved life,' he said. ‘You deserved everything you have achieved. The Echo Corporation is not what I would have done but it was what you wanted. You always had more business sense and ambition than me. I'm glad I helped you realise your dream.'

He turned back to address the judge. ‘If I had told the truth then this version would have been destroyed. Melody would have been killed a second time. I never wanted that. I still don't want that.'

Even the judge was unable to reclaim the courtroom after this so he announced that the court was in recess while a verdict was reached.

The only people not talking were Melody and Maguire, who were staring at each other in silent dismay.

‘Well done, Eddie,' said Scarlett. ‘I know it can't have been easy.'

‘What happens now?' I asked. ‘What happens to me now?'

‘The same thing that will happen to all of us. The timeline will be cleaned up. No more multiple versions of the world. Everything we have achieved and all of the mistakes we've made are going to be wiped away. A new originating point will be picked and procedures will be put into place to prevent this happening again. That's the idea.'

‘But, how can that be possible if  … '

‘Eddie,' she interrupted. ‘The only thing you need to know is that the world is going back to square one.'

‘But won't it all just happen again?'

‘Who knows? They think they've done all they can to ensure it doesn't, but you just heard Maguire. The man who saved your mother, only to have her accuse him of murder, has no regrets.'

‘Will I remember?' I said. ‘All of this?'

‘None of us will,' she replied.

‘I don't want to forget you.'

‘One day, you won't have to,' she replied.

It was the summer holidays and I was cycling around on my own, going nowhere in particular, when I first saw Lauren. It was one of those rare moments, among all those grey rainy days in the valley, when the sun shines and you realise how far you can see. The sky was endless blue, the valley was a hundred shades of green and there she was, running through a field of yellow sunflowers.

So many colours, but not one that compared with her.

She was waving her arms and running towards a police car that had just overtaken me. The female police officer smiled at me as she passed but she can't have heard the girl shouting because she didn't slow down and her car disappeared around the corner.

I stopped my bike and stared at the girl. I suppose I must have felt invisible because I was surprised when she saw me.

‘Hello? Excuse me. Can you help? I'm lost,' she said.

‘I  …  er  …  I was just cycling past,' I said stupidly. ‘Where are you trying to get to?'

‘The cottage where I'm staying. We've just arrived. I'm here on holiday.'

She had short blond hair and green-blue eyes.

‘You're in one of the holiday cottages?' I said.

‘Yes, but I can't remember what it's called.'

I laughed.

‘I know. It's stupid. I think it had something to do with honey. There are roses in the garden.'

‘That narrows it down.'

Her smile was like nothing I had ever seen before.

‘I'm Lauren,' she said.

‘Eddie,' I replied. ‘I'll help you find your cottage if you like.'

‘Thanks. I was beginning to worry that I'd be searching all night and end up getting eaten by wolves.'

‘Well, we haven't found it yet  …  You still might,' I replied. ‘Except we don't have wolves here. It's more likely you'll get nibbled to death by sheep.'

We set off down the road. It was strange how easy she was to talk to but I didn't question it.

I stopped walking.

‘What is it?' she said.

‘Shout something,' I replied.

‘Like what?'

‘Anything.'

At the top of her voice, she shouted, ‘Anything!'

The word bounced off the hills and came back to us.

‘Cool echo,' she said. ‘It's like there's another me shouting back.'

‘There isn't much to do around here. Talking to yourself is the best entertainment we've got.'

‘I like it,' she said. ‘Are you on holiday here too?'

‘No, I live here.'

‘Wow.'

Even though I normally hated life in the valley, today I understood what she meant. At that moment it looked like the most stunning place on earth.

‘It's not normally like this,' I said. ‘This is a good day.'

‘Yes, it is,' she replied.