| |
The Future
A few weeks had passed since Caitlin’s death and Scott’s disappearance. Angela, on behalf of the family, announced that Scott had gone to visit another Community nearby to the south, believing a break from normal routine would help dispel his grief.
Angela and Rory held a quiet discussion in the hallway outside their parent’s quarters. Murray watched from his bedroom doorway. It was intense. The two redheads bent close in conversation. Angela left abruptly after making a point, as only Angela could. Rory stood back, rolled his eyes, then turned to Murray.
“That looked serious,” Murray called as Rory made his way toward him.
Rory’s eyes slitted. What had Angela done now?
“We have to have a family meeting.” Rory’s mouth became a thin line.
“When?”
“Now! Get your brothers and sisters together.”
Within half an hour, Murray had assembled his siblings in the living room of their parent’s quarters. They sat on the couch with the dining chairs turned around to form a circle. Ceilidh was red-nosed and sombre. His brothers were quiet. Rory sat with his arms crossed over his chest. Angela stood in front of them, wearing a navy-blue skirt suit she had found from somewhere, her neat attire matching her neat hair style. Rory let out a breath.
“The Chief Council, after much debate, have decided they will apprehend our father and bring him to justice.” Angela opened the meeting. “All Council members agree that justice must be upheld. The Chief Council will make every effort to maintain standards and a sense of ‘rightness’ in our Community’s society. Any breach of this would be the slippery slope into the chaos which now reigns in the world outside. Offenders will be punished, despite any position they hold.”
Gasps and sharp intakes of breath made their way around the encircled chairs in a domino effect. Only Rory stayed silent.
“You knew about this, Rory?” Kelly asked.
Rory nodded, nostrils flaring.
“How do they propose to achieve this?” Callum enquired.
“Why do they want to achieve this?” Ceilidh asked.
Angela stood straighter; she had easily slipped into the role of Chief Council member.
“Justice must be done equally. No favourites. As to how,” she looked at Callum. “We now know The Time Machine works. So, the Chief Council are proposing someone goes back to find and return our father.”
Callum’s face screwed up in disbelief. Rory, his twin, with almost identical features, raised his eyebrows in question.
“Well, that won’t happen in a hurry!” Murray was the only one to respond. “They’ve got to reset and recharge The Time Machine. It may take months. And then how will they bring Dad back—and whoever is to retrieve him—to serve Dad with justice? We haven’t figured out how to do return journeys yet!”
“Aye. I agree with Murray,” Rory said. “They can spout as much as they like about Dad being brought to justice, but they’re impotent to achieve it at present, if ever.”
The domino effect repeated around the circle of chairs, this time tense postures relaxed. But Murray didn’t relax. It was impossible. They would cross these hurdles eventually. Being part of the team, he had access to this knowledge. And once they were over them, they could retrieve their dad from any point in time and return him for trial and punishment. Even if it wasn’t in their lifetimes. Until they achieved his retrieval, a warrant for his arrest would stay on the files.
“When are they going to let the Community know what Dad has done?” Brendan asked. “They have nae said anything, just spun a lie.”
“Aye,” Rory’s face reddened. “Not that I want Dad’s reputation besmirched, but is that no’ double standards? They want him punished for his crime but they’ll no’ tell anyone what he’s done. They’re lying.”
“How can they tell anyone? Then they’re required to admit to The Time Machine,” Murray voiced the reason for their subterfuge.
Angela had stood quietly over her siblings.
“The Chief Council has been struggling with what to announce to the Community,” Angela said. “If we define our father’s crime, we would have to explain all. We will need more security around the machine, so no one misuses it again. People wouldn’t understand what it involves or the machine’s limitations. The Chief Council are yet to vote on it.” Angela turned to their eldest brother. “Rory, we need you to help us improve the security I just mentioned. Would you and George put your heads together with your best in the Militia please?”
Rory nodded. George Stobbart was the second in command of the Militia. In their dad’s absence, he was Acting In-Charge. Mr Stobbart had been an ex-Royal Marine before The Stock Market Crash and had found his way to the Community. He was an older man with experience in leadership. His expertise had been invaluable. Mr Stobbart had trained their dad and the other young men and formed the security force for the Community. Rory admired him and had trained under him as well. Having talents that lay in other areas, Murray was thankful Mr Stobbart had never bothered him to join the Militia.
“Why’d he not say good-bye to us?” Ceilidh uttered. “We lost him as well as Mum.”
Murray’s two younger sisters, Ceilidh and Kelly, had silent tears running down their cheeks.
“They’ll bring him back eventually,” Ceilidh’s expression brightened.
“That’ll be years away.” Murray tried to console his sisters.
“Aye, to put him in prison,” Rory expounded.
Rory! Could he not be a bit gentler? It certainly wasn’t his brother’s strong point.
Ceilidh’s shoulders slumped, and she began to sob.
“Any ways, the poor man did it in grief. No’ in his right mind, like,” Rory added a qualifier. “Surely he can plead insanity?”
“Dad’s not insane!” Ceilidh cried.
“I don’t mean he’s mad, sis. It’s a legal term. It’ll give him a lighter sentence. May even get him off. Maybe.” Rory looked at Angela and added, “Depends on if they want to make an example of him or believe they can’t be seen to have favourites by being lenient.” He continued looking at Angela. When she didn’t reply, Rory shrugged.
Murray locked eyes with Kelly who cried silently, but with a thoughtful expression on her face. What’s she thinking?
***
MURRAY SAT AT HIS DESK. His paperwork was neatly piled to the left, textbooks to the right. The space in the middle, usually covered with an open notebook or papers filled with calculations and a slide-rule, was now bare and supporting his elbow. On the wall was a tatty poster of Einstein’s head repeated in the style of Andy Warhol. The clock ticked rhythmically, mimicking his brain at work. Kelly sat on the end of his bed, elbows resting on her knees and an expression of anticipation on her face.
“So, you stall for as long as you can.” Kelly sounded hopeful.
“I can only stall so much. They’ll get suspicious if suddenly my calculations take twice as long. I’m a genius, remember!”
“Well, when they sound like they’re getting somewhere with bringing someone back to the future from the past, try and misdirect them.”
“But I don’t know enough to do that!”
“Thought you were a genius.”
“Ha ha.” Funny, not. “Only at calcs., not in theory.”
The clock continued its ticking.
“Rory and George are good, aren’t they?” Kelly asked.
“At their jobs, you mean?”
“Yes. Once they tighten security, it’ll be hard to get to the machine, won’t it?”
“Why? What are you thinking?”
Kelly paused and shuffled on the edge of his bed, causing the springs to squeak, then she looked determinedly at him. Something was coming, and it would be momentous.
“One of us needs to go back and warn Dad,” she put up a hand to stop his protests. “If we wait too long, we won’t be able to!”
“One of us go back,” he repeated. “Are you serious?”
“Yes!” she nodded. “Dead serious.”
And she was. A sick sensation began in Murray’s guts.
“You know how to work the machine. Don’t you?” Kelly had been planning.
The question surprised and relieved Murray at the same time. “Yes. Although they’ve never let me near it.”
“But when it’s rebooted and charged and ready to go, you’ll know what buttons to press or switches to flick. Or however it goes, yes?”
“Yes.”
“So, I’ll go. You do the machine.”
Murray shook his head. He wasn’t sure if it was in disbelief at his sister’s proposal, or in an authoritative way. “No,” is what came out before he thought it through.
“Why not? I can do it.” She thumped her hands on her thighs.
“Kelly! As it is, you won’t get back!”
“Don’t want to get back. I want to be with Mum and Dad!”
“So, that’s what this is all about?”
“No! I want to warn Dad, so he can avoid whoever they send.”
“It’s too dangerous, Kelly. You won’t be in a safe compound. The pod goes back in time to the very same place which they think is an abandoned farm, but it may not be yet, and the world is not safe out there!”
“You, big brother, will be in more danger than me.” Kelly walked over to him where he sat and placed her hands on his shoulders. “If they catch you. I figured you could make it like the machine has accidently discharged or something.”
Kelly stood over him. She meant it. She could do it, too—trained in self-defence, as they all were. Dad and Mr Stobbart had insisted all members of the Community could fight and defend themselves. Kelly looked girlish and weak but was a vicious fighter when her blood was up. It had made their dad proud. Murray had to admit, out of the two of them, she not only had more courage, but more ability. Kelly would survive in the past’s chaos. He could ‘do’ the machine as she had suggested. Even make it look like an accidental discharge, as she had also suggested. Kelly did have a good plan.
Murray was even willing to wear the consequences if they caught him. He was sure his other siblings felt as he and Kelly did about their dad being punished for stealing a time-journey. Except for Angela. Well, he was now contemplating the same. The idea of his dad getting into trouble was unbearable. Then another, more important issue came to mind.
“They can’t send anyone back to get Dad,” Murray said. “It would change the past. He has to meet Mum back then, protect her and make sure she makes it here. They can’t stop him, or it will change all our futures. I mean presents.”
“You must try and talk them out of it. Surely they have discussed all this?” Kelly took her hands off his shoulders and waved them around the room, pointing at nothing.
“I don’t know. I’ll speak with Angela. She’ll have to listen,” he added in response to the doubtful expression on his little sister’s face. Secretly he held the same doubts. It was Angela after all.
***
MURRAY KNOCKED ON ANGELA’S door. He and Kelly had decided to speak with her at once. The door opened. Paperwork covered the table in Angela’s room—Chief Council business. Angela wore a smug expression, relishing her new role.
“Yes?” Angela’s hand remained on the doorknob.
“We’d like to talk with you, Angela.” Murray said.
“Well, Murray, as you can see, I have a lot on my plate at the moment. Still reading up on recent discussion topics. Things I missed out on before I was on the Council.”
“It’s important, Angela,” Kelly said.
“Oh, come in then. Don’t take long.” Angela’s voice dripped with impatience.
“Um... In all your discussions with the Chief Council about Dad...” Murray started, but Angela’s slitted eyes and downward tilted head made him pause. He braved her scorn and continued. “Well, have they considered the implications of bringing Dad back?”
“Meaning?” Angela straightened up, a wisp of deep-red fell across her face.
“Meaning, you can’t because you’ll change things.”
“Change what?” The impatience stayed in Angela’s voice. She pushed the strand of hair back behind her ear.
“Change everything! If Dad doesn’t protect Mum, then she’ll not survive and get here. None of this will happen! We won’t happen!”
“You can’t prove that.”
“You can’t risk it,” he pleaded. “Did the Council even discuss this?”
“We did. But you see, you are forgetting something. If Dad did all that, why was he not here, in the Community, right from the start? Why did he get here as a teenager a few years later?”
Murray had no answers. They were good questions. He’d asked them himself. Not consciously, but they’d been there in the back of his mind. Angela continued expounding the Council’s hypothesis.
“We believe he was not here from the start because we had retrieved him from the past. You see, he will be called to account. We will bring him back just as soon as we are able.”
Murray’s mouth gaped, and he didn’t reply. His legs wouldn’t move straight away but when they did, he turned and walked his just as stunned younger sister out of Angela’s room. The door closed behind them with a bang.
“Well, that makes me more determined than ever,” Kelly said through gritted teeth. Their astonishment dissipated as they stomped their way back to his room.
“I’ll figure out a way and let you know when. You’d end up here, at the Community Compound, thirty-eight years ago. We don’t know where Mum and Dad are. How would you find them?”
“We don’t know. But Aunty Bec and Uncle Brendan do.”