The Power of Forgetting (50 page)

Rimmington held
up his hands; and then backed off some more. When Oliver looked at
him again, and his arm rose to the firing position, Rimmington held
up his hands and stepped back to the end of the room. He glanced at
the door. Oliver nodded. They retreated away from the Welsh man, as
if they had seen a devil from hell appear in front of them. Out of
the corner of my eye I saw Lorraine collapsed in a sodden heap on
the floor, with her hands over her face. Hanson was rather
ineffectually trying to comfort her. Davey led me backwards to a
seat. I think my knees were about to give way, and I sat down
rather suddenly.

As soon as the
last of the bunch of Rimmington’s men left, Oliver went to door and
dropped the bolt. He turned and quickly went to the body.

‘You fucking
bastard! You’re out of your Goddam mind!’ Joe rose up towards
Oliver in an aggressive stance. Oliver was pointing the pistol at
him. I hadn’t seen him move, it was that fast.

‘Sit down!’
Oliver ordered. Joe blanched and backed off. Oliver flipped the
body over and then laid the gun down on the floor. He took out his
knife and quickly cut through the ice suit.

I saw what he
was doing and realised at once who it really had been.

‘What are you
doing?’ said Hanson in a strangled tone.

‘Just look away
if you’re squeamish.’ Oliver didn’t even look up. He pulled the
remaining fabric down near the hip area, and felt around with his
hand. Then stabbing the knife in, he twisted it.

‘Davey! Water
bottle now!’

Davey, to his
credit, was quicker on the uptake than the rest of us. The fact he
was Marcia’s friend and probably knew her better than most might
have made him realise as Oliver had done that trying to kill Janey
was a good indication that this wasn’t Marcia.

He poured a
little water in and dug around some more. Everyone except me and
Davey looked away.

Davey passed
him a cloth and he tugged out a small tablet that was silver and
rounded at the edges. He passed it to Davey. Davey held it
carefully and rinsed it some more to get the blood off. Then he
wiped it clean.

‘Are you seeing
this?’ Oliver asked Davey. He pulled on a silvery thread that was
embedded in the skin.

‘Yes. What is
it?’

‘A network of
connectors. Perhaps it helps the thing look more realistic. She
certainly fooled us.’ Oliver sounded philosophical.

‘Is there any
indication when it was initiated?’ Davey asked.

‘I think it
would be safe to assume that she was inhabited by our Marcia up
until the jump back here.’

‘No. I don’t
think so.’ said Janey, ‘I’d know. There’s no way that I could carry
a double and not know.’

‘So where you
separated at any point?’ Oliver picked up the gun again. Janey eyed
it as she answered.

‘It was in the
outer lab. But it was only for a few minutes.’

‘Long enough.’
said Oliver, then to me, ‘help me will you.’

‘Yes. Okay.’ I
helped him flip the body over. I couldn’t avoid getting blood on my
hands. It made me feel light headed. I looked at Janey. Her eyes
narrowed in discomfort, but she seemed reasonably calm. Lorraine
had stopped crying.

‘How did you
know?’ asked Hanson as Oliver went through all the pockets on the
body; and Davey rifled through the pack.

‘I didn’t.’
said Oliver.

‘You’re a
fucking psycho.’ said Hanson, but in a tone of admiration rather
than criticism.

‘Would you
really have shot Marcia?’ said Joe. He seemed to have grasped the
fact it wasn’t her and was looking a little more in control.

‘It’s Marcia’s
pack.’ said Davey, ‘we think it was in that outer lab near the
entrance. It’s on the way out.

‘He will honour
the deal.’ said Janey.

‘You think?’
said Joe, ‘After what just happened?’

‘No choice.’
said Davey. ‘Now please give us the deprogramming thingy
Janey.’

She handed it
to me, ‘Just touch the skin and say the word.’

‘That’s it?’ I
asked her.

‘You want it to
be more complicated?’

‘No…. okay
Davey.’

‘Right.’ He
said and stood and shouldered Marcia’s pack as well as his own.

I opened the
case. There was a series of transparent cards inside the case with
the name and a word printed on the centre part of each one. ‘Like
that?’ I said. Janey nodded. Everyone made ready to get their
“dose”.

I leaned over
and whispered the keyword in Davey’s ear. He blinked and breathed
in. ‘Okay.’ Was all he said.

I went round
everyone. And then flipped the case closed.

‘Is that it?’
asked Joe, ‘it doesn’t seem to be making any difference.’

‘It won’t.’
said Janey, ‘Not yet. There is a return that is complete in 24 to
48 hours from now. You may get a sudden rush of several things at
once but otherwise it is so gradual that you won’t notice that you
had formally forgotten what it was you are now remembering.’

‘Very clever.’
said Oliver.

‘Yes, what
about him?’ asked Joe pointing at Oliver.

‘Let’s get
moving.’ Oliver stood and sheathed his now clean knife, ‘they may
change their minds.’

As we started
to move down the corridor I fell into step with Oliver.

‘Tell me
Reece,’ I began, ‘would you….’

‘Yes.’ Oliver
answered firmly, ‘if her life was threatened, I would not have
hesitated.’

I saw that we
had come to the edge of the complex. The group were behaving with a
sense of solidity at last. We came near to the outer lab. It
occurred to me that this may be the place that the group in the pod
room spoke about while we were hiding from them.

Lorraine came
along side me; 'I'm sorry about Marcia.' she seemed cautious. And
when I didn't respond, dropped her eyes to the patch of floor in
front of her.

'I....err,
thanks....' I said then. The truth was that I felt a truck load of
guilt about Marcia; for at least four reasons. I felt confident
that she would turn up soon however. There was a tragic
inevitability about the whole "Rimmington" thing. We were nearer
the mountains here and up towards the higher reaches of the river.
I guessed that he would go after us again. And now I was prepared.
There was a dampening field over the whole base. We could not jump
from here. It was only the marble hall that allowed you entrance. I
caught up with Janey, who was standing looking surprized. The
corridor abruptly ended. I don't mean we came to a door... But that
there was just a space, with grass and beyond that some bushes.

'Don't!' said
Janey sharply as Davey moved forward to her side. He glanced across
at me.

'Could be an
illusion.' I said.

Oliver was
tapping the hilt of his hunting knife lightly on the walls and
listening. He backtracked down the corridor.

'I'm sure this
is the place.' said Joe.

Oliver ignored
him, stopped; listened again. He turned the point to the wall and
jabbed firmly.

It was kind of
weird how sets of doors were there. You knew they were there, and
yet they had been passed unnoticed a moment before.

Hanson seemed
the most perturbed, eyes round, with a kind of horror. 'What is
this place? Why build it like that?'

'I don't think
any of this was built like anything in the ordinary sense.' Oliver
was already working on the nearest door to get in. He grinned then
when it swung outwards instead of inwards.

'Simple enough
to fool most people.' Janey stood with her arms folded in thinking
mode.

'It not that
big either.' said Oliver peering inside.

'A bit like an
old classroom again' said Davey.

We began to
search systematically room by room backwards from the weird
corridor end. Hanson seemed to be having an attack of the jitters
and was sticking to me like glue. I had to say that Davey was the
calmest next to Oliver. He seemed far more in control and
self-possessed; he searched thoroughly the next room with Oliver
then joined me and Hanson in the corridor again. Janey was gripping
her arm, and seemed tense. Joe looking flushed concentrated on
ministering to her with Lorraine assisting.

‘There’s about
four rooms left to search.’ Oliver emptied the clip and reloaded
the pistol. Lorraine looked at me meaningfully.

‘Don’t worry,’
I said to the assembled company, ‘Oliver knows what he’s doing. We
all need to trust his judgement….’

‘I really need
to know what the fuck is going on!’ Hanson sounded out of control,
‘we were dragged from the woods… and then we were back here. I mean
it’s not even possible!’

‘He doesn’t
know.’ Janey said wincing slightly. Joe looked at me expectantly.
Oliver nodded a fraction.

‘The reason
Rimmington wants me….’ I fished around for the right way to put it,
‘is that I am; well, I have always been something that the company
who set us on the expedition calls a “Traveller”. There are other
names for this… but it means that I can control, Umm…. The things
that happen to me; the order they happen in…’

‘It is a
skill,’ said Janey in a loud voice cutting across me, ‘that allows
the user to control Time itself. Yes… I know that is mad,
impossible, insane and generally not a good idea, if you ever want
to make sense of what is after all a complicated enough situation
already; but we…. As in Jared and I are “Time travellers”. I can’t
explain much to you all at the moment. I think that will have to
wait. But the problem for Rimmington is that we could go back and
stop him. So he needs us to be enmeshed in his little scheme so
that if we stop him, we also stop ourselves…. It’s a puzzle and no
mistake. And since he thinks he has already neutralised me; he
wants Jared. Jared hasn’t used his skill often you see…. And is
therefore a threat to Rimmington.’

There was a
collective pause. I suppose that everyone was thinking about what
question to ask; but then Oliver turned and opened the next door
along.

‘Jared!’ he
said sharply, effectively leaving the forest of questions springing
up and left unharvested.

I went to the
door. There, slumped against an old desk was Marcia. We went
forward to her straight away. Oliver checked her for signs of
injury. I took her head in my hands. Her eyes flickered opened, for
a moment then rolled shut. We pulled her onto the floor and checked
her neck and wrists. She didn’t appear to have been drugged. And
there were no other sign of injury or struggle. I thought of the
marble hall and how the two minders had incapacitated me. I
wondered if this was the same. Joe came to my side, ‘Let me see.’
He said. He looked pale now and back in control. Something was
flickering in the back of my mind, like a flame licks over paper
and then it becomes dust. There was a curtain dissolving; I saw it
now. Hanson was kneeling next to Joe. He held her wrist feeling
round for a pulse.

‘It’s slow.’ He
said, ‘as if she’s asleep.’

I stood up.
Davey caught my eye. ‘We must get out of here soon… but I have a
feeling that something is going to hold us up.’

‘Yes.’ I said
looking down at Marcia. I went back into the corridor. Oliver was
already there with the rest of them.

‘She’s good to
go.’ said Lorraine, who was checking Janey’s arm.

Janey grimaced,
‘You have my thanks Lorrie. I guess were even now?’

Lorraine
shrugged, ‘I guess,’ she looked at me. I wasn’t keeping up. Davey
stood near the door to the room, alternating his gaze between Janey
and me. He turned then as Oliver prowled back a few yards the way
we had come.

‘Time is now.’
Oliver warned, ‘I can hear funny sound.’

‘What time is
it?’ I asked suddenly.

‘Ten to five.’
said Davey, then: ‘She coming round!’

I went back in
the room. Marcia was sitting up holding her head in both hands,
with Joe on one side and Hanson on the other. They both were
smiling.

‘Come on Annie!
You’ll do alright now.’

‘She’s getting
there.’ said Joe. He noticed me then, and said in a studied neutral
voice: ‘She just needs two minutes, and we can leave.’

‘Oh…. what was
in that?’ Marcia said, shaking her head.

‘A mild
stimulant.’ Joe smiled at her, ‘You’ll be fine Ellis. Something
made you fall asleep.’

‘I was in a
room…. No, I was in this room. And then I saw…. I don’t know.
Something odd. It was…. odd.’ she tried to scramble to her feet.
Hanson and Joe helped her; both being overly solicitous.

She stood up
swaying slightly. They were both talking to her softly and kindly.
She seemed to blink a few times. And then she straightened up. ‘I’m
okay now…. Thanks boys.’

‘You sure
Annie?’

‘Sure thing
Andrew.’ said Marcia and smiled at him in that clear eyed way I
knew so well. I guess I was jealous; which at that moment seemed
like a stupid distraction. As a second later Oliver shouted from
the corridor; ‘Shift it Idiots! Right NOW!’

Davey stood by
the door until we were all out of the room. Marcia was not going
that fast so I grabbed her round the waist and ran with her. Joe
and Hanson were right behind, Janey and Lorraine in front of us,
making for the square of afternoon illumination under a cloudy sky.
Oliver and Davey followed up the rear. Davey caught up with me and
shoved Marcia’s pack into Hanson’s hands as he passed us.

‘Pistol!’ he
ordered.

Joe took Marcia
forward as I stopped. I slid the gun out and loaded it in one swift
movement. Davey took it out of my hands.

‘Davey?’ I felt
the swift yielding to terror as a darkness that wasn’t a natural
diminution of the light rose like a wave towards us on the distant
corridor. Oliver was just back coming up from behind.

‘Run!’ he
screamed. I didn’t argue. The last thought I had before we leapt
for the strange gap was “I hope Davey can shoot straight!”