The Last Beginning

Saturday 16 November 1745

A disastrous meeting today. A local man and volunteer by the name of Matthew Galloway was killed by a round of musket fire after the militia refused to guard the castle against the Rebels.

A local woman named Katherine Finchley was greatly affected by the passing of the man. I feel responsible for her grief as it was in the act of protecting not only Miss Finchley but also myself that he was killed. His life was given to save my own, and for that I will never forget him.

I find myself persuaded to surrender. His violent and cruel death was seemingly without cause, and it has resulted in more panic and disillusionment amongst the militia.

I see no future where the siege of Carlisle can result in anything but more death. I must choose to surrender peacefully now, before more innocent lives are lost.

I will declare my surrender immediately, to ensure that Matthew Galloway has not died in vain.

File note: Diary entry of COLONEL DURAND, written during the 1745 Jacobite Uprising. The entry concerns subject allocations “KATHERINE” and “MATTHEW”, as recorded after CLOVE’s arrival in 1745

As shown in Folios/v1/Time-landscape-1745/MS-12, CLOVE’s influence on “MATTHEW” during her visit to 1745 was a direct cause of the surrender of COLONEL DURAND during the siege, a disastrous decision which would impact the next three hundred years of British and global history

“A ‘J Sutcliffe’ works at Cambridge University, in Deutsch-England,” Tom said, reading off his watch. “Physics department. Is that who you mean?”

“Is there a picture?” Clove asked, leaning over to look at his watch. It was a much older model than Clove’s – she’d changed technology, too, the way she had changed everything else in this timeline.

So her mum was alive here. She just lived in another country. Clove wondered if she’d married someone else. Did she have kids?

To Clove’s surprise, a message from Spart appeared on Tom’s watch. Even though so much had changed, Tom had still created the AI. It was nice to know that some things were clearly constants.

>> DR JENNIFER SUTCLIFFE took over as leading research professor at the university after the recent collapse of the Nazi regime.

“The end of the Nazis was the only good thing to happen this decade,” Tom muttered.

>> The professor is working on wormhole creation at the University of Cambridge.

“That’s the time machine!” Clove said. “She’s still working on it! Even if she is in England…” Clove tried not to think about how she could possibly get there. At least the time machine still existed somewhere.

“See if you can find her contact details,” Tom said. “Clove might need to call her.”

While Tom’s Spart started looking for holes in the university website’s firewall, Clove showed Tom her own watch. Along with her clothes, it was the only thing that hadn’t changed since she’d arrived. “I have a Spart too,” she said.

> It is an honour to be your progeny in multiple time-landscapes, TOM. I hope you have no complaints as to the state of my programming.

“Not at all. It sounds like you’ve been having a bit of an exciting time. Did you have a hand in Clove’s adventures?”

> I must deny such charges. Any and all inappropriate and history-destroying behaviours are due solely to CLOVE’s instruction.

“Hey!” Clove said, offended. “Unfair, Spart. You are at least fifty per cent to blame for all of this.”

Tom winked at her. “I think I programmed both of them to have the same sense of pride. Hey, Spart − say hello to your alternate-universe twin.”

> You may not. I don’t believe that is an appropriate question to ask a new acquaintance, even with the similarities in our design.

Clove gleefully followed along as the two Sparts verbally circled each other like territorial cats. She stopped when she realized Tom was still staring at her watch and frowning.

“What? What is it?” Clove said, looking down at her Spart’s latest message, where he was boasting about being a more advanced model than Tom’s Spart.

When she did, her mind struggled to process what she was seeing. Her skin was see-through. She was turning … transparent?

Clove couldn’t – she couldn’t— She pulled up her other sleeve, then her trouser leg. Her veins and flesh were visible where skin should have been. She was fading.

What if Kate and Matt had never had a daughter in this universe? What if she had never been born?

“Yes,” Tom said, still staring at her hand, at the muscles flexing under her skin. “Matt. He’s in prison, along with his girlfriend. They were activists – they were caught breaking into a military laboratory over the border, in Deutsch-England. But what does that have to do with—?”

So Kate and Matt still existed here, but they’d both been arrested. Kate had never escaped and fled to Scotland.

“Your brother. He doesn’t have a daughter, then? His girlfriend – she wasn’t pregnant when she was arrested?”

“No,” Tom said, confused. “Not that I – I don’t know! She never had a baby!”

Clove felt like she’d been punched in the stomach. She had never been born in this world. She had changed history so much that she’d erased her own existence.

CHAPTER 27