Before the Storm (23 page)

‘Yeah, well, back to work, but twenty quid richer,' laughed Barry, obviously relieved that the danger was past.

BC gestured for Emily, Muriel and Daniel to stand beside her.

‘Attention!' barked BC.

BC clicked her heels together and brought her fist across her chest in a salute. Emily and Daniel followed her lead, rather more clumsily. Muriel merely clasped her hands and looked awkward.

‘We salute you, Barry Porter,' declared BC.

Barry suddenly looked astonished. He was used to either being ignored or shouted at. Being the centre of attention while not being shouted at or chased away was entirely outside his experience.

‘Wot, me?' he managed.

‘Yes,' said BC. ‘Crew, stand easy.'

‘But I was nowhere near parlyment, it was you lot out against the Germans.'

‘Us?' snorted BC. ‘Emily killed a spy, Daniel got shot defending me, I beat up a lot of people, and Muriel stopped us bleeding to death, but none of us did anything important. Barry, it was you alone who saved the future.'

‘I … you … she
killed
a cove?' exclaimed Barry, going chalk white.

‘We girls are very dangerous,' said Emily. ‘We just don't boast about it like boys do.'

‘I just bandaged people,' said Muriel huffily. ‘I don't go shooting them.'

‘But you have a gun,' Emily pointed out.

‘Must be dreamin',' muttered Barry, his hands over his head.

‘Had we followed your plan, Barry, nobody would have had to die,' BC explained.

Although it was clear that Barry was finding the revelations rather overwhelming, he snatched for what he hoped was a correct conclusion.

‘So, I was all right, then?'

‘The world will never know of it, but your plan was as clever as the Trojan Horse of the ancient Greeks, and those who were in the Charge of the Light Brigade were no braver than you,' said BC.

‘Yeah, well, Miss Emily did tell me to think, so I did.'

‘You thought even better than I could have,' Emily forced herself to admit.

‘Cor, ta,' said the embarrassed Barry. He glanced south to the train that was now visible in the distance. ‘Well, suppose I'd better get back to work.'

‘No, wait here,' said BC, who then strode to the station office.

There was a crash and a shout of surprise, followed by several heavy thuds. Half a dozen beer bottles flew through the door and over the edge of the platform, where they smashed into splashes of foam and shattered glass between the rails. They were followed by Barry's father, who stumbled out onto the platform clutching his stomach. BC reappeared. Mr Porter shuffled off to open the gates for the train.

‘Barry, your father has very kindly agreed to mind the station by himself for the rest of the day,' announced BC. ‘Emily, here are ten shillings. Why not take Barry back into Melbourne on that train? Show him the lights and decorations, and buy yourselves toffee apples. Daniel and I are going home. Muriel?'

‘Somebody has to do your bandages properly,' Muriel declared to BC, although she was batting her eyelashes at Daniel.

The train pulled into the station.

‘Hold your arm out!' Emily demanded, grasping Barry by the collar and stopping him as he made for the carriage.

‘'Ere, wot for?'

‘So I can put my hand on it, like a lady with a gentleman. Now walk! Open the door – no! Get out again! You hold the door open for me while staying outside,
then
you get in and close the door behind us.'

‘Is this meant to be a treat?' asked Barry, glancing forlornly at BC before closing the door.

The train chuffed out of the station.

‘Barry the Bag, out on the town with Emily on his arm,' said Daniel in wonder as the three of them stood staring after the departing train.

‘Am I meant to laugh or be sick?' asked Muriel, squeezing Daniel's hand.

‘Barry Porter, he could have been the greatest battle commander imaginable,' said BC, shaking her head.

‘Yet in a way, he was,' said Daniel.

‘I do believe you are right,' concluded BC. ‘Barry the Bag commanding Lurker the Worker, Wreder the Writer, and Luker the Lurker. An uncoxed four! Yes, a small crew but an effective one.'

‘Come along, heroes, bandage time,' said Muriel, tugging at Daniel's arm and BC's coat. ‘The battle is over, so the nurse is in command.'

Two days later it was Saturday, and the six saviours of the century-to-come were gathered in a café near the river. Fox sketched other patrons while Emily tried not to choke on her first cup of coffee. BC sat scanning a newspaper for news of anything suspicious, and Daniel and Muriel sat holding hands. Barry was concluding the sale of an artistic postcard to someone with a bushy beard, who declared that he had come to Melbourne 'for the culture'. Deciding that she could force no more coffee down for the time being, Emily leaned closer to BC.

‘BC, may I ask you two questions?' she ventured.

‘No, I shall never tell anyone about last Wednesday night,' replied BC.

‘Actually, that was not the question, but thank you.'

‘Wednesday night?' asked Daniel and Muriel together.

‘None of your business!' snapped Emily.

‘Then what?' asked BC.

‘Firstly … well, it's not a question. I was waiting for some boy to come along and rescue me from my cage. You taught me that I could break out of that cage any time that I wanted to, without help from any boy. It was not easy, but it was not impossible.'

‘True. We are all trapped in cages, yet all of us carry the keys. Finding the courage to use the keys, that is the hard part.'

‘And second, your future ceased to exist when Barry stole the bombs that were supposed to destroy the Exhibition Buildings.'

‘Yes.'

‘Yet you and Fox did not cease to exist.'

‘Obviously.'

‘Why not?'

‘Quite probably, it was a causality loop,' replied BC.

‘Um, can that be explained to someone like me?'

‘It was a future that happened, then looped back on itself and got bypassed by changed history.'

‘Oh, but I thought you would sort of die, or, um, never have been.'

‘Apparently time travel does not work like that.'

‘So that was why you were not worried about changing your past?'

‘No, I was indeed worried. I did not know that causality loops existed until two days ago.'

‘Is this something to do with that time travel nonsense you tried to tell me about?' whispered Muriel to Daniel. Daniel nodded.

‘So you thought you might die?' Emily asked BC, ignoring Muriel.

‘Yes.'

‘But weren't you afraid?'

‘I am a soldier. Death is never far away for me. If some German boy had ashed me a hundred years in the future, would that be any worse? History looped upon itself. My future happened, at least until I vanished into the past. Now a new history will happen, and there will be no century with five world wars. My history has become a forgotten loop in time that did happen, but became closed off and bypassed. Fox and myself are all that is left of it.'

‘But if your future has gone, you can never go back. Yesterday is different, now.'

‘It was a bleak future in a mad world, Emily. I am content to stay here, and be part of this new time.'

Emily looked over at the others for a while, smiling, with her chin on her hands. Presently she tried some more coffee. Muriel squeezed Daniel's hand and smiled as Emily choked, then commenced a coughing fit.

‘Fox loves artwork,' wheezed Emily to BC once she had got her breath back.

‘A career as an artist is probably safest for him,' responded BC. ‘At heart, he is a very gentle and sensitive soul. Muriel, that was very kind, introducing him to those teachers and other artists.'

‘My pleasure. Anything for a friend of Daniel's.'

‘Now then, there are some very stupid and dangerous men still on the loose,' said BC.

‘Not to mention stupid and dangerous schoolgirl artists!' snapped Emily, glaring at Muriel.

‘Enough!' said BC sternly. ‘As I was saying, there are still several conspirators out and about. We really should deal with them.'

‘Yes, indeed,' agreed Emily warily, and Daniel nodded too.

‘Does that mean I have to keep carrying this silly gun in my knickers?' asked Muriel.

‘Perhaps not. I have learned that cunning is vastly superior to firepower,' said BC, who now turned to Emily. ‘What would
you
do?'

‘You are asking
me
?' asked Emily in turn.

‘I am not familiar with your times and society, so I need to learn from you. I may not agree with what you say, but I shall take it into account. Later I shall even ask Barry.'

Emily spread the papers that she had taken from the false policemen at the Exhibition Buildings. Nothing on them seemed to inspire her. She put them away again.

‘Um … first we need a plan,' she began. ‘A plan based on what each of us does best.'

‘Yes?'

‘But we also need to be a team, to work together better.'

‘Splendid idea.'

‘So we shall hire a boat, a coxed four.'

‘What?' exclaimed BC, her eyes suddenly wide.

‘You are to be cox. Daniel can be stroke, he already knows rowing from school. Muriel shall be bow, and Barry and I can sit in the middle. What do you think of that? Fox can be the person who runs along the bank and shouts at us.'

‘The coach,' said Daniel.

‘Why?' asked BC softly.

‘You are injured, you cannot row. Barry, Muriel and I need to become fit and coordinated.'

‘I meant why should we learn to row together?'

‘Because of what rowing does for people. We need to learn how to lock together as a perfect team, absolutely committed to winning and totally loyal to each other.'

‘I think we are close to that already,' replied BC after considering Emily's words for a moment.

‘That is my advice, Liore-BC. You may do with it what you will.'

BC folded her arms on the table, glanced at her crew, then looked across the river to the boatsheds. Finally she stood up, called, 'Crew, to me!' and walked from the café. Emily explained what they were planning to Barry and Fox as they followed BC.

‘Last time you and I got into a boat we nearly drowned,' Daniel pointed out to Emily as they walked across the bridge to the boatsheds.

‘This time you will not stand up in the boat,' retorted Emily.

‘Hope me bag doesn't get wet,' muttered Barry. ‘Important items of a covert nature in me bag.'

‘Confirmation, am coach, BC?' asked Fox.

‘Kindly ask that in courtly,' ordered Emily.

‘Ah … Am I truly the coach, Miss Liore?' he said very slowly, pressing his hands against his temples.

‘Thank you Fox, yes,' said BC.

‘I still don't see why I have to row,' muttered Muriel to Emily.

And so the last surviving cadet battle crew of a British Empire that would never exist shakily steered their hired rowing shell out into the waters of the Yarra River in the late autumn of 1901. On the bank, Fox shouted instructions that went largely unheeded or misunderstood, and managed to keep up with the boat without even running. In terms of strength, skills and coordination, the crew was an ill-assorted collection, yet they were already absolutely loyal to each other and had won their first victory.