Stephen Hawking. Fuck all wrong with him. He's just a lazy bastard. And he's still alive. Got tired of having to do all that talking so he faked his own death to claim the insurance. He'll be in some exotic location right now dancing the night away. Heavily disguised and using his own voice what are the chances anyone would recognise him without his wheelchair?
(The copyright to this image is the property of Dain Yoon)
He'd been so wrapped up in the awe inspiring sight of the Channel bridge and the silver arch in the sky, the kid had called The Never, that he'd missed a few other things. Like the aircraft drifting along. They looked a bit like dirigibles except that they had lights twinkling along their sides from top to bottom. If those were windows, as he suspected, some of them were at least twelve story's high. Smaller less distinguishable shapes flitted past at speed. Some of them meeting up with the ships in the sky. Dover was a bit different than he remembered it to. Now that he'd dragged his eyes off what was happening above him. If that was Dover, an awful lot had changed since his days. It was now a domed city. A glittering, near transparent, shell within which tall buildings now stood. Jake had grown tired of asking questions already. It didn't help that Pip wasn't good at answering them.
He'd save his queries for now, use them sparingly at least. They'd already walked a few hundred meters from where he'd arrived and now the edge of that dome was hardly five minutes walk away. Something was nagging at him. Yes that was it. There were no roads as far as he could see. Which admittedly wasn't very far at this point. He matched pace with his guide and he or she was no slouch. Striding confidently along towards that dome. Until they took a sharp left. A change that appeared random. They weren't following a road or track. Even though they'd left the sandy beach far behind. The place smelled wrong to. Everywhere has a smell of its own made up of all the other smells it produced. Cities and towns smelled different to one another and to the countryside they were in. The air entering and leaving his lungs was far too clean. He'd chance another question.
"What year is it?"
He didn't expect a direct answer.
"It's 2015. Monday the 14th of January to be precise."
"It's a bit hot for January. Global warming I suppose."
"Yeah. I suppose yer right. This bit of the globe is getting warmed by Climate Control and other bits is getting global cooling. We should get a move on. It's going to rain in less than five minutes."
"Hold on. You said 2015 right?"
"That I did."
"I left my earth in 2020. How have I traveled back in time?"
The kid chuckled.
"Cos you haven't. It's just that the portal you entered is connected to this part of our time line. While timelines are all headed in the same direction they ain't uniform. Sometimes time passes more quickly here and sometimes more slowly. Being captives, so to speak, we don't notice."
"So they can control the climate here then. This rain you're forecasting, is that controlled as well?"
"You got it. Now all we got to do is get you to Bristol."
Jake felt that like a slap in the face.
"Bugger. I just came from Bristol. Via Dover. On my world. Why do I have to get to Bristol?"
"Cos that's where the captain and the crew are being held. We gotta make bail money to get them out remember."
"If you're a member of the crew why aren't you in custody?"
"They said I was too young. So when they tried to send me to a youth facility I legged it."
"How old are you?"
Pip shrugged.
"I dunno."
"You've no idea how old you are? You must know roughly."
"All I know is I look too young to be sent to prison. That does me fine. Get a move on. We're almost there."
Jake looked around for something that might be a destination. There was nothing apart from countryside.
"Almost where?"
Pip pulled out the device he'd used to value the notes earlier. He swiped and pushed a couple of icons. After which a tube emerged from the ground. A door opening in the side of it. The first drops of rain spattered down.
"Get in. This'll take us to the megalink."
"Right and is that going to get us to Bristol?"
"Eventually." They stepped into the roomy tube. "One thing though. What we're doing now is against the law."
As Pip spoke the heavens opened. What could be classified as a deluge was emptying from the sky. When there'd been not a single cloud in the sky shortly before. Jake mulled over the illegality of what they were doing. It didn't have a lot of options here. Saying one would be an overestimate.
"Fantastic." Jake declared sarcastically. "What's the sentence if we're caught?"
"Don't worry that's not going to happen."
"The fact you dodged my question leads me to worry. What is the sentence for the crime we are committing?"
"Discorporation."
Another word he'd never heard before.
"Mmmm. That sounds bad to me. But I bet it's even worse isn't it."
"Yeah you got it. Discorporation is about as bad as you can get. I'm alright though. I'm too young to be criminally liable so they'll only send me to be reeducated."
"I have to ask, although I'm pretty sure I won't like the answer, what precisely is discorporation?"
"It's like death. Only worse. They remove your consciouness and store you on the net for between fifty and a hundred years. Then when they release you they've changed your entire personality to that of a drone and removed all of your memories."
"That's pretty sobering. Why don't they just kill people."
"Cos that would be too kind I suppose." Pip looked at him closely. "I can't work you out Jake. You don't seem to know much about anything. I'm trying to decide if you're just stupid or trying to sell me a shit sausage."
"I take it that means spinning a yarn."
"No it means lying. Only the professionals are allowed to spin yarns."
Jake decided to let that pass. They could be here all day otherwise. The door to their tube opened. He noticed there'd been no sensation of movement although this definitely wasn't where they'd entered the lift. It had to be a lift of some sort surely. From the way sounds echoed Jake knew they were inside. It was dimly lit and smelled of machinery. Actually the tube or elevator was still moving. You could only tell when something close passed by. Whatever they were inside and traveling through must be huge.
"Why did the door open?"
"Cos this is the bit where we have to jump. Follow me."
Saying this Pip dived out of the opening. Follow him he had to. Jake took a very short run up and attempted to emulate what he'd seen Pip do. Which was dive and hope. He hoped. The landing wasn't perfect but it was soft. He'd been lucky there. In front and to both sides of him was a steel walkway. If he'd landed face first on that it would have hurt. He looked up to witness Pip actually rolling around on the floor with laughter. Jake would have to introduce the child to Hermes. They get along like a house on fire. Only Hermes was currently unavailable. Hopefully not permanently. He picked himself up and stepped onto the raised platform Pip was still lying on shaking with uncontrollable laughter.
"Why am I all sticky?" He asked as he felt his body.
"That's cos you just fell into a sex booth that hasn't been cleaned. Did ya get any in yer mouth?" Pip again dissolved into mirth.
Jake was far less sanguine about the matter. Holding his arms away from himself.
"Ew! That's... I mean it's... Are you trying to sell me a shit sausage?"
Still virtually helpless, Pip struggled to her feet. At least he'd worked that out, from the geography of her groin. No consolation whatsoever given what was plastered all over him. She shook her head, unable to speak for a moment.
"You over jumped. I hoped you would."
He examined himself holding out his arms and rotating them. It was everywhere. Something wasn't quite right here and it had nothing to do with being covered in semen. Jake prided himself on knowing his hands like the backs of his hands. These were not the backs of his hands. They were different. Bigger for a start and there were no freckles on them. The skins of his palms, instead of being soft, were tough and callused. Sharon had said his appearance would alter. He'd forgotten that. These knuckles looked like they could belong to a boxer. What did he look like? He'd not been particularly good looking to begin with. Average really. Perhaps fate had been kind enough to make him handsome.
"Is there somewhere I can clean up?" Jake asked knowing it was very unlikely.
"Nah. We gotta get moving. No humans are allowed in here. That access port we used is strictly for machines. Most of which won't even know we're here. There's security bots though. If one of them spots us your toast."
"They'll let you off."
"No. I'll have pegged it out of here and left you behind to slow them down."
"That's nice to know. Hopefully there'll be a way I can repay you for that in the future young lady."
She gave him a calculating look.
"Not as stupid as ya look. Come on. Let's get into the megalink public area. This place always makes me nervous."
"The way you were laughing you could have fooled me. Lead on Pip. Towards a rest room please."
"Ain't got time for that Jake. More important things to do."
The two of them made their way along the wide walkway. Then down a steep ramp. Back in the direction they came for a while before descending another similar ramp. From there Pip led him to a hatch that was about three feet up a wall. Pip did whatever she was doing with her electronic device and the door eased open from the bottom. Pip climbed in with Jake right behind her. It was only tall enough for him to crawl along. They moved forward about fifty meters to another ramp. Pip scuttled up this, pumping and thrusting her limbs furiously. It took Jake a couple of attempts. The floor was smooth and too slippery to climb up, so he had to use the sides of the tunnel they were in to get up. At the top there was another hatch in the roof, which Pip duly popped open before climbing out. Jake followed suit.
Now they were stood in what Jake assumed was some kind of underground railway station. There were a few people dotted about on the opposite side. The first he'd seen, apart from Pip, since he'd arrived. He avoided gazing at any of them. A mild paranoia his only excuse. There were twin tracks between the two platforms that headed into the dark tunnels at either end. Despite him thinking they'd reached a destination, Pip kept walking.
"Where do we need to get to now?"
"To a terminal where we can get you registered. If you ain't registered you can't get on the megalink."
"Do we need fare?"
"Good question." Pip stated patronizingly. "I can get on for free but they'll charge you 0.0001 creds."
"I've only got the money I showed you. Incidentally, I don't remember getting that note back from you."
"That's cos ya didn't. I'm gonna need it to get it valued. Don't worry about the fare. This is a Prime Node. They'll charge you then collect it later from any account you have on any world on this weave. Here we are. Now stand behind me and make sure no one sees. This ain't technically legal either. I'm gonna have to hack this terminal to get it to register you."
So saying the young girl got to work. Jake stood behind her facing the other way. Carefully scanning both platforms for any sign that they were being observed. It was mere seconds before Pip tugged his shirt. He turned to what was now a screen.
"Please state your name." It spoke in a disturbingly human way.
"Jake Halliday."
The screen flashed and then scrolled through a huge list at lightning speed. The blurring lasted longer than the hacking had taken.
"Please place your right hand, palm down, in the slot."
An opening appeared below the screen. Jake gave a questioning look to Pip, who nodded. He placed his hand as instructed. The terminal gave a few bleeps. Then, much louder than was strictly necessary, announced the results.
"Of the 27 different DNA profiles on your right hand we have detected genetic markers in one that match Jake Halliday. You are now registered Mr Halliday." There was a pause before another slightly different and much softer voice came through. "The Wanderer returns. Welcome Wanderer."
Twenty seven different DNA profiles?
"Why have I got... Awww shit. That fucking sex booth. I am smothered in it."