‘And Ronan?’
‘They tried to arrest him for breach of medical protocol and attempted murder. Knowing St Mary’s, probably in that order. He didn’t wait around. He took Annie from Sick Bay and attempted to reach Hawking with her. Shot two techies. One died. She put up a fight. He tried to force her into a pod. She wouldn’t go. They struggled. Security turned up. She was caught in the crossfire. He stole Number Nine – and vanished.’
‘Did she recover?’
‘No.’
‘She died?’
‘Yes.’
‘Does he know she’s dead?’
‘Yes.’
‘And he blames himself?’
‘No. He blames Edward and St Mary’s and just about everyone but himself.’
‘So it’s – revenge?’
He shrugged.
‘And the Boss?’
‘Never mentions it. Go and get the blankets. It’s getting chilly.’
His voice was final. There would be no discussion.
We did sleep outside. I wrapped myself in a blanket and stared up at the stars. Something moved nearby. I sat up and stared into the darkness. A muffled voice said, ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Nothing. I thought I heard something.’
On the other side of the fire, his breathing deepened.
I got up, picked up my blanket, and walked round the fire. ‘Move over.’ He shunted over. I lay down beside him and he covered us with the blankets. I lay with my back to his front and pulled his arm over me like a cover.
He said, ‘Rumour has it you snore.’
‘You don’t know the half of it.’
I fell asleep listening to his heartbeat.
We stayed for two days and he never stopped winding me up. He gave way on the rations but I became chief wood-gatherer, water-getter, tea-maker, and anything else he could think of. We bickered our way through the days. I felt my thoughts sharpening again and climbed out of my pit of self-pity.
Ronan was never mentioned.
We snuck back to St Mary’s. I had a sunburned nose. No one noticed.
I found Kal and Peterson sitting on the stairs. I tried to remember that although it was two days for me, for them it had only been a couple of hours. The routine of St Mary’s closed around me.
They helped me organise my material while I gave them the details. I expected all sorts of ‘I told you so,’ especially from Kal, but she only rubbed my arm briefly, expressed regret she’d been unable to tear him apart herself, and changed the subject. I described everything. We always do this. It helps us get our heads together for our report and presentation – the next big event on my horizon.
After lunch, I got down to it. Fortunately, I’d done so much work on-site there wasn’t a huge amount still to do, which was just as well because I’d had an idea.
I went to see the Boss. Mrs Partridge waved me through.
‘Good afternoon, sir. Can I talk to you for a moment please?’
‘Of course. Please sit down. What can I do for you today, Miss Maxwell?’
‘I’ve had an idea, sir.’
He nodded, but said nothing.
‘Do you remember, a long time ago when we met, I said it was a good idea there was no such thing as public-access time travel?’
He nodded.
‘Because of the damage that could be done to the public themselves, to the timeline, and to History?’
He nodded.
‘You know we made a holo?’
‘Yes, Miss Maxwell. I hear it’s something a little above and beyond our normal records.’
‘Well, I’ve been thinking, sir, maybe that’s a way we could make time travel available to the general public without them actually knowing. We can continue to film and record as we usually do. But, instead of simply filing it all away in the archive for future reference, IT could fiddle about with it; we could put in a commentary, and then hire our films out to show in holo theatres around the country. People would know that they were watching dinosaurs for instance, but not that they were watching actual dinosaurs. They could watch the Battle of Hastings, Stephenson’s Rocket, the pyramids being built, or the Crystal Palace Exhibition. Being produced by us sir, under Thirsk’s umbrella of course, will ensure its credibility.’