Time Leap (28 page)

“
Do you think
we’re standing on the top of an underground city?” I asked
Nik.

“
Possibly.
Maybe like Qin Shi Huang’s tomb in Xi’an. But how do we get
in?”

“
Good
question.”

But it seemed like a
question to which we had no answers. We walked over the hill for
some time looking for an entrance – but nothing. Then Niki said,
“Joe, how do we get into our house?” For some reason, she suddenly
seemed interested in our home in London.

“
We use a
key,” I replied.

“
And we put
the key in…?”

“
Well, I
usually put it in the door – I don’t know about you
Chinese.”

“
Which is
where?”

“
For god’s
sake Nik, where is this leading us?”

“
Down there,
hopefully,” she replied, pointing at the grass. “Just answer the
question will you?”

I felt a bit like a young
child answering my primary school teacher’s questions.

“
On the ground
floor – or in China, the first.” Niki smiled at me. She could at
least have given me some candy for my correct answers, but no such
luck. And then it dawned on me. “Okay, got it,” I said. “We should
be looking lower down – not on the roof.”

We walked down the hill,
and then around it – until we found a well–worn track on the
opposite side of the hill from which we had come. And then a door.
It was hidden by being recessed into the hill, but once you were at
it, there was no doubting it was a door. It was made of dark brown,
varnished wood and looked old.

“
Should we
knock?” asked Niki.

“
I suppose
it’s polite to,” I replied.

“
It could be
dangerous,” she said.

We looked at the door for
a moment. Then I said, “Take this,” handing Niki the gun. “I’m
going to try it.”

I slowly turned the large
handle on the door, and it opened easily. Inside, blue luminous
lights led along a corridor. Not very bright, but good enough to
lead the way. I beckoned Niki to follow me. We could hear voices at
the end of the corridor, so we moved as quietly as we could. As the
corridor opened into a large room at the end, there was Smirnoff –
sitting on some sort of a sofa with a glass of something in his
hand, smiling at a woman opposite him. I don’t think I’d ever seen
Smirnoff look so contented. We had a good view of the room without
being seen ourselves. The woman had beautiful fair skin, silver
hair and was dressed in a blue robe of some kind. She must have
sensed our presence, because she suddenly called out:

“
Do
enter…
Qing jin
,”
she said in a warm voice. We looked at each other, and then entered
the room.

“
You speak
Chinese?” asked Niki. The woman just smiled and indicated two seats
next to Smirnoff. I began to notice other people in the dimly-lit
room. One was a man, slightly younger than the woman, who was
standing to one side, plus six other people seated around the room,
which was lit by the same type of lights as in the corridor, but in
other colours.

“
I believe
you’ve travelled a long way,” the man said in a rich
voice.

“
Don’t try to
hide anything,” warned Smirnoff. “It’s not worth it. They can read
your minds.” I didn’t know whether he was joking or not, but took
his advice.

“
We have, yes…
from the year 2015,” I said. The man looked at the woman, who
nodded.

“
I’m Ben and
this is Madelaine.” I was about to stand up and politely shake
their hands, but was stopped before I began.

“
Sorry, we
don’t,” Ben said, waving me away. “No–one does that now – not since
the epidemic.”

“
What have you
seen so far?” Madelaine asked.

“
We’ve seen
Edinburgh… well, where it had been. And what’s left of Callander,”
said Niki, not afraid to talk to the strangers.

“
Ah! Well, I
hope you haven’t stayed outside too long,” Madelaine
said.

“
Why’s that?”
I asked.

“
The air’s
poisoned,” Smirnoff answered. He was clearly serious.

“
Yes, it’s
true,” said Ben. “It’s safer inside. But it’s alright to go out for
short periods – your bodies can take it… probably better than ours
actually.”

I wondered if this was
connected to the epidemic Ben spoke of, but didn’t want to state
something that might be obvious.

“
Yes it is,”
said Madelaine, answering the question that I’d only formed in my
mind. It took me aback, and I was tempted to say, ‘What is?’ or
‘Sorry?’ to pretend I hadn’t had this thought. But it seemed we
couldn’t hide anything from these people. “You know, it’s better if
you just speak your thoughts. No–one here is going to judge you or
say you’re wrong,” Madelaine stated.

“
Unless of
course you
are
wrong,” smiled Ben.

“
Thoughts are
very special substances,” Madelaine continued.

“
Substances?”
queried Niki.

“
Now you know
why I’ve been here so long!” quipped Smirnoff.

“
Yes –
thoughts are made of substance, matter. What did you think they
were made of?”

“
I don’t know
– I’ve never really considered it,” Nik replied.

“
Well, this is
your chance now,” said Madelaine. “But first you should have a
drink. Is tea all right for you?”

We confirmed it was, and
one of the girls who had been sitting at the back of the room stood
up and left to make the tea. This gave me a chance to study the
area more carefully. The walls were lined with timber, and the
furniture was all constructed of various types of wood. Very little
metal was evident, and certainly no plastics. The other people in
the room were dressed in clothes that looked home–made, rather than
mass manufactured. But beautifully put together.

The tea arrived and
Madelaine poured for us. The cups and teapot were traditional
pottery ones, similar to those you’d find in our own time.
Madelaine and Ben sat down close to us and Ben began to
speak.

“
A long time
ago, but still in your future, the Earth was affected by several
worldwide changes. You could call them disasters, but really they
were just the consequences of the way mankind had misused the
Earth. The first was the rising sea–levels, caused by what was then
called ‘global warming’. It developed fairly slowly at first and
then accelerated. It really shouldn’t have been a surprise – the
scientists and environmentalists had been warning for many years
that this would happen. But most people had the idea that it would
not happen to them, or it wouldn’t happen in their lifetimes, and
so they didn’t care about it. When first Venice and then Bangkok
disappeared under the waves, people began to take things a bit more
seriously – but by then it was too late. The combined effect of the
warming sea temperatures and the melting ice–poles caused the sea
levels to rise dramatically.

“
At the same
time, the earthquakes which had been very common around the Earth,
but rarely hit cities, began to increase in magnitude and occur in
densely populated areas. Also, according to our history documents,
during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries governments around
the globe authorised the testing of atomic bombs underground,
either blissfully ignorant of the consequences, or not really
caring about them. Not only that, but the large scale mining of
coal, gas, oil and minerals intensified – creating great chasms
within the Earth. In addition, forests were decimated at a rate far
beyond the rate they could re–grow. These combined agents had a
profound effect on the Earth, which had to adjust itself to the
changes – producing cataclysmic earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis –
and extreme weather.

“
There is
nothing man can do to stop Mother Nature once she gets going.
Unlike wild animals, which had retained the intuitive guidance they
needed for survival, Man had long since lost the intuition that
could have guided him away from the trouble spots. People instead
were guided (and misguided) by their scientists; and whilst they
were very good at giving details about earthquakes and other
natural dangers
after
the events, they could do nothing to predict with any
certainty exactly where or when an earthquake, flood or a tsunami
would hit next. Even when people knew they lived in an earthquake
area, such as the West Coast of America, they were reluctant to
leave their homes, and took their chances with their friends and
families.

“
It was, we
understand, a huge chain reaction that spread across the globe. Not
only whole cities, but in some cases whole countries disappeared
beneath the waves. You are familiar with Japan, I take it?” I
confirmed that we were. “It is no more.”

Ben paused to take a sip
of his tea, and Niki and I just stared at each other.

“
When will
this happen?” Niki asked.

“
From your
time period, the large scale events will begin within fifty years.
But as far as I understand it, you are already accustomed to
earthquakes and extreme weather… is that right?” We nodded soberly.
The weather had certainly been getting more and more extreme in
recent years, and flooding in many parts of the World had now
become an accepted, though unwanted, part of life.

“
But how can a
whole country disappear from the face of the Earth?” asked
Nik.

“
It’s happened
many times in the history of this planet. Have you not heard of
Atlantis?” I was beginning to hear the name Atlantis more and more
often. I nodded, and Ben continued. “Atlantis was a powerful and
strong country for thousands of years. They had flying machines,
and could travel across continents – just as you do in your own
time – except that theirs were cleaner.”

Having witnessed the
flying machines of the Boskops, Ben’s words were totally
believable.

“
There was
another factor in the destruction of your civilisation,” Ben added.
“I understand that nuclear power is used extensively in your time
for the generation of electricity and energy. Can you imagine what
would happen if hundreds of these power stations were hit by
earthquakes?”

This was certainly not
difficult to imagine. In 2011, the Fukushima nuclear power station
in Japan was hit by a tsunami, triggered by an underwater
earthquake, causing the release of radioactive materials into the
atmosphere. Before that there was the Russian Chenobyl disaster in
1986.

“
I guess a
great number of people would die… and the atmosphere would be
poisoned,” I said.

“
Indeed,”
replied Ben.

“
What about
England?” Niki asked, “Did it survive?”

“
According to
our records,” the United Kingdom, as you called it, split in two.
Most of the South is below water, and only the high ground in
Scotland and the North of England is usable. It’s been like that
for many centuries.”

I was suddenly aware that
Smirnoff had disappeared. Neither Niki nor I had seen him leave –
we’d been so engrossed in what Ben was telling us.

“
Did you see
where our friend went?” I asked.

“
He said he
had to fetch something from your vehicle, I believe,” answered
Madelaine. “Don’t worry… I’m sure he’ll be back soon. Would you
like some more tea? We gratefully accepted a top–up of what tasted
like blackberry tea – something I must admit I’d never
tried.

“
Joe, I think
you should go with Smirnoff… I feel uneasy,” Niki
whispered.

“
Okay,” I
replied. I made my apologies to Madelaine and Ben, telling them I’d
be back in a few minutes. Then I realised I hadn’t got my phone.
“Have you got my mobile Nik?” I asked.

“
No… didn’t
you put it on the table when you sat down?”

“
Ah, I did see
your friend pick up a device of some kind from the table,” said
Ben. I thought it must be his.”

“
Oh, shit!” I
exclaimed and ran after Smirnoff. Why would he take my phone? He
couldn’t use it to call anyone, he couldn’t use the GPS… it was
useless to him… unless…

As I ran down the hill, I
could see the Russian at the car. He had something in his hand, and
the way he was holding the door handle with the other hand sent
shivers through my spine.

“
Smirnoff!” I
shouted down to him – but it was too late. Both the van and the man
had disappeared, leaving Niki and I completely trapped in this
desolate world – 2,200 years in the future.

O
THER BOOKS BY STEVE
HOWRIE

Bucket &
Broom in China

(Fiction, humour).