‘Cannot be.’ Ludokrus studied the connectors.
‘They’re the same, look. One’s a mirror image of the other.’
Ludokrus looked at his sister. ‘You think he plan this? Think something may happen? Remake the receiver so this will fit?’
‘He make the Temporal Accumulator also,’ Alkemy said. ‘Why rush? We cannot use. No ship. Back then we cannot even summon one.’
‘Are you saying what I think you’re saying?’ Tim said. ‘That he built the Temporal Accumulator and modified the receiver, then went off knowing he might not come back?’
Norman said, ‘Maybe he guessed where the Sentinels were from Mum’s maps. Maybe he went looking for them and left a little insurance behind. He knew we’d go looking for him if he didn’t return.’
Alkemy bit her lip and studied the bulb. ‘You think I should try to plug it in?’
Ludokrus said, ‘Does not make sense. How can he know he does not come back?’
‘Not know, but like Norman say. Insurance.’
‘He mentioned a mission too,’ Tim said to Alkemy. ‘Remember? He said he’d completed his mission to the best of his abilities.’
‘What sort of mission?’
‘Didn’t say.’
‘The old receiver,’ Ludokrus said to Norman. ‘She have this socket also?’
‘Definitely not.’
Ludokrus sighed. ‘Albert, always with the secret.’
Alkemy held the bulb out. Norman set the receiver in her lap. ‘He say I must keep it close. Will still be close, yes? Can keep my hand on.’
Tim nodded.
Still, she hadn’t quite decided, but as she moved it near the socket, the bulb decided for her. It jumped from her fingers like a paperclip brought close to a strong magnet. The two surfaces met, the bulb rotated half a turn, then sank in as it made the connection.
There was a pause. A thin red band lit up around the receiver’s edge and a voice said, ‘Restricted recollection parameters activated. Five sentient beings present. Please identify yourselves.’
Tim recognised the robotic voice immediately. ‘It’s the one from the mineshaft. From when we first found Albert. Just say your names.’
They did so.
There was another pause.
‘Identities confirmed,’ the voice said. ‘Access permitted.’
The shallow basin of the receiver filled with grey static that slowly formed into a recognisable shape.
‘It’s the gully!’ Tim said.
It was early evening. A view from the hut. Dark clouds overhead. The picture panned from one side of the valley to the other. Around the edge of the display were graphs and indicators, all in green.
‘This must be from Albert’s perspective. We’re seeing what he saw.’
‘What’s that overlay?’ Coral said.
‘Threat assessment,’ Ludokrus replied.
Albert took his time, checking through three hundred and sixty degrees. The indicators all stayed green.
The image zoomed to a high point on one of the rock walls, then scanned the slope below. Calculations flashed in the bottom corner. Estimates of time and distance. A clock overlay appeared briefly. He started to move.
‘Looks like he’s going to put a scanner block up there and worked out how long it’ll take,’ Norman said.
‘Don’t go. Don’t go,’ Alkemy muttered.
Albert went. He moved with surprising speed, pausing at the gully floor before starting up the slope. There was a flash of lightning followed by a boom of thunder. The image inclined skyward. A view of boiling clouds.
‘It’s that storm the other night. He’s right underneath it!’
‘Just like we were.’
As he continued up the slope, the air filled with pounding rain. His pace quickened.
Another flash of lightning showed the outline of a mineshaft ahead. A slight hesitation, more threat assessments, then he made straight for it. There was a brief blur followed by a view of the valley below, framed by an oval of rock.
‘He’s taking shelter.’
A hand came into view and set a scanner block outside the entrance.
Lightning crackled close by. More thunder. Albert backed a little deeper into the mineshaft. A single indicator on the lower left turned yellow.
Alkemy closed her eyes and looked away.
Another roar of sound. For a moment it seemed that lightning had struck the cliff above the mine. Rock exploded outwards and the images became a confusion of tunnel walls, boulders, dirt and dust. But the thunderous booming didn’t stop. It went on and on, as if a series of charges were being detonated, one after the other.
The receiver went dark then lit up again in ghostly green as Albert switched to low-light mode and sprinted down the shaft, the roof caving-in behind him. He was beating it! Then another explosion brought down a section directly ahead. He had no choice. He dived into it like a swimmer plunging into a raging stream. Jumbled images showed him fighting through the falling rock. The chaos cleared for an instant. An open space ahead. Then something enormous caught him in the back and threw him to the ground.
The sound stopped. The picture froze on the open space ahead. A low angle, skewed, tilted to one side. Dust settled as the glowing indicators — now all red — flickered out one by one and lines of static scored the fading image.
There was a long respectful silence. Alkemy stared at the flickering static, tears in her eyes.
Finally Ludokrus said, ‘OK. But I think we work this out, yes? How they catch him?’
‘Wait,’ Norman said as Alkemy moved to withdraw the bulb. ‘I think there’s more.’