Sand Glass (2 page)

'You work for a
Design Company?'

'Yes. I really
do. For my sins.'

'Mm....' Marcia
was thoughtful. 'It's really making sense now.'

'What is?'

'Everybody
comes from a business that can, and does go on without them, if
needed. There must be exceptions, but I'll hazard a guess that
everyone else either works for the University, or is on secondment
to it.'

'Nikolas said
he was doing time lapse for them.' I hunted round for another
tomato and started to chop it. 'Second round.'

'Nikolas was
being "borrowed" from a firm who do loads of corporate stuff,
adverts on TV. Documentary drama. Everything.'

'Oliver?' I
asked.

'Now that is
odd. There doesn't seem to be any connection.'

'Why? What does
he do?'

'He's a school
teacher.'

'Really?' I was
stunned, 'I never knew.'

'He was on sick
leave.'

'Well then, how
could he have come on the expedition?'

'He wasn't sick
in the body. But in the mind. Or so it was believed. Reliving
things that happened to him when he was in some special operations
hush-hush thing he did.'

'I'll bet it
was part of it, yes? What Oliver did in the past is somehow
connected to Cloud Field?'

'I see you've
adopted Janey's name for it.' Marcia was regarding me with a more
calculating expression having finished the sandwich.

'What else
shall I call it?'

'The whole
project is called "Project Bank". Yes; sounds like something to do
with money. It means "group of" like a bank of nursing staff. But
our bit of it was originally known as “The Sand Glass
Experiment".'

'So what is it
called now?' I put the slice of tomato down. It was too important
to be still chewing while I absorbed all this.

'There were a
few versions. But they settled on "The Nimbus Project".'

'It sounds nice
and corporate. A bit serious.'

'Yes,' Marcia
seemed impatient, 'but the name change wasn't just for the sake of
"rebranding" as I think they call it. There was a seismic shift in
both the direction it was aiming and the membership of the board of
directors. "Sand Glass" had been about science. Don't ask me to
explain it. We had several info sessions that just left me more
confused. I'll come back to that. But "Nimbus" had a different
agenda. Although nominally the same.... Something was rotten. We
were to now make money.'

'You were in on
this?'

'I was a
sponsor! I signed up to support Sand Glass. Janey had told me about
it. The theory at least. I was willing to back something she was
passionate about. "Exploration at the cutting edge of quantum
theory". Don't worry,' she added, 'I start to glaze over too when
scientists start talking about what it really means. The trouble
came..... Well, it started when the first experiments worked a
little too well. We were briefed of course, in typically
patronising terms.... The translation into ordinary person's
language. There were three speakers. One of whom was a Mr Rosen. He
wasn't snotty like the others, but really tried to explain as best
he could what had been done so far.'

'Jules!'

'Yes. Jules...
He was sure that we would discover something amazing. And they did.
They used this thing.... this "Modulator" it’s called. They said
they had produced an effect where there were two possible outcomes,
to say, a roll of a dice. And they were both true.'

'There's a lot
of difference between affecting dice rolls, and changing someone's
history!'

'But don't you
see it? It didn't do that! Not at first. It just made small things
happen. It just affected the staff at Main. When that was all there
was. The place was well hidden, but it was soon only a place in a
"fixed anchor point of quantum space".'

'So you mean it
stayed in one place. But what happened in there changed
around.'

'Yes. Very
good.' Marcia continued, 'there was a way to stop the effect up to
a point, so that visitors or people who had no connection were not
adversely affected. But the staff needed doses of something called
"Eyeline". It's been refined since. Whatever decisions you made it
stopped it from being changed. You left, and that was it. It was
inconvenient, hard to rationalise, and some people frankly refused.
So they set up a field generator that created a background signal
to keep everything stable. It made people feel more comfortable
too. The whole environment was protected, so rooms didn't change
colour or office doors weren't suddenly discovered unlocked.'

I put the
kettle to boil. I felt this really needed washing down.

Marcia shifted
in her seat and carried on: ‘Along with some other sponsors, I
supported the time stabilisation drug part of it too, this
“Eyeline”. I thought it would still be useful to perfect the
function and tolerance of the drug in case the generators failed at
any time. We thought it would still be needed in any new research.
And when the corridor opened downwards into that other land, it was
the only way to travel there. That's where George got his knowledge
from.'

'Mapping
expedition?'

'Yes.... And we
discovered the time shift too. The further from Main Base you are,
the faster is your relative speed in time. George spent a week out
there.... And he'd only been gone two days. Very weird it was until
you got used to it.'

‘But what does
the University have to do with all of this…. I mean which side are
they on?’

‘Every side.’
Marcia slid off the seat and burrowed in her bag, ‘I have the names
here of all the contributors to the projects. When I say “projects”
that is exactly what I mean. There was not just Sand Glass, but
others. I have the top people listed here; including the ones
involved in our part of “Project Bank”.’ She spread the printed
sheets out on the table.

‘Who are all
these people?’

‘Sponsors
mainly,’ she pointed at page two, ‘this one. He owns a chain of
shoe shops. And this…. part of the private secure business paper
shredding industry.’

‘Paper
shredding?’

‘Unreal isn’t
it? Making money from memos that other people write. All about the
things that they are trying to make money from.’ Marcia sighed,
‘but here is the really interesting bit… look there.’

There was a
list of names with “Potential Futures” heading it. It had what
appeared to be a load of random names. But I wasn’t good on
spotting who was who in business, despite spending two years in the
city.

‘Where did you
get this Marcia?’

‘That’s easy. I
have clearance remember. I made the copies before we left on the
expedition. I felt mutinous…. It was to do with Hanson; of course.
Call it insurance if you like. It was in the locked box of personal
effects inside a paperback.’

‘You read?’

‘Novels.
Yes.’

‘What do you
read?’

‘Cheesy Chic
Lit. I call it. Always sits like a salad followed by chocolate
pudding.’

‘Ouch!’

‘Quite. I think
I’m over him…’

‘Who?’

‘Hanson.’

‘Do you think
he is at the centre of this?’

‘Playing fast
and loose with other people lives? Certainly. But if you want to
know if he has any real power; then that my dear is open to
debate…. I’m not in the circle of confidence now. My pass code was
revoked while we were all out in the field. There may be a way to
hack in, but we’d need a friendly computer nerd and a lot of time.
And I think we don’t have much of either.’

I told her
about Jared’s universal tag info and how it ended up in the
ring.

‘It’s good that
George has all of that. It may give us some background. But somehow
I don’t think there can be much that it tells us that I can’t
remember. We need up to date info…’

I felt a little
nettled by Marcia’s casual dismissal of the micro dot. But I had no
way of knowing what she did in fact know. ‘You remember it all?’ I
asked her.

‘Yes. I have an
extraordinary natural gift. Instant recall. It seems that you are
like that as well. But your memory is more…. contextual.’

‘Eh?’

‘Related to the
time and place the information was first imparted in. Jared told me
that time at the pond. He said that you were the connection. Like a
missing wire as it were. People come back with information… like
the Ring. Or with impressions that are non-specific. They are
basically screwed. Insanity is almost compulsory. The only
alternative is to forget. That way you can’t be affected
permanently. But our connection has remained. In a time and place;
in that warm place with the tribe.’

She rolled up
her sleeve and seemed to look as if she was feeling some sort of
pain.

‘Does it hurt?’
I asked her.

‘Yes! It aches
really badly.’

I reached out
and rubbed her wrist, just below the tattoo. I felt it then, that
connection. The images poured through my mind in a torrent. I was
seeing the whole world through Marcia’s eyes, including at the
precipice. I saw Jared as I fell backwards. There was a halo of
colour around him; spectral hues. In a flash of a moment I had
realised something.

‘He took your
place. Oh my God!’ I let go of her hand. It was too intense. Fate
was like a channel. Life and death. But sometimes it wasn’t
insistent on whose.

I saw it again
in my mind’s eye. That moment just before Marcia fell. She looked
surprized. I turned to see Jared cast an invisible something to
her. A line? A thin sliver of his soul. It made sense. He was
sleeping in a hospital somewhere. He was trying to wake up. He had
to die! The same way as when you close your eyes in a dream you
wake in reality.

I gasped as the
revelation rolled over and over like a tide. He had to choose, him
or her. He gave her his soul. All of it; or part of it? But I knew
it was the only way for her to have survived the fall.

‘What did you
see?’

‘You have the
knowledge we need to defeat Nimbus.’ I said.

‘But I don’t
know how to use it.’

‘We do it
together. We’re a team; remember.’

‘But Oliver is
back in Wales.’

‘He is there
because that is where he’s supposed to be. I think I just
remembered something important. Something that connects us all. But
we need to get Jules, and then go see Janey.’

‘But what did
you remember?’ she drew her brows together perplexed at my cryptic
manner. I wasn’t good at being mysterious. So I tried to explain:
‘Jared said that we could leave….at any time. We just had to want
to… but the caveat to that was the way it affected other people’s
fate.’

‘Go on.’

‘We were all
scared and trying to hold it together. We all thought that it was
negative. Fatal and deadly… that sort of thing. But maybe it’s not.
I mean I saw something. Just now. Jared…..’ I trailed off lamely
and stared at the remains on the small plate.

‘I think I
understand. It’s really a matter of seeing this thing the right way
round? The way a picture of cubes can look like they’re going into
the picture or popping out?’

‘Yes; I think
that is something like…. We were all afraid, just as the people in
charge of this thing wanted us to be. But we have power to change
things. It depends what we want to change…’

‘So…’ Marcia
said slowly, ‘we need to think positively about this. See the
picture rearrange in front of our eyes?’

‘A little
faith,’ I said, ‘perhaps that’s what we could call it?’

‘Or
Science…..the good kind. From a good scientist. You are right, we
need Jules.’

‘I’m right?’ I
said, ‘so what about Janey?’

‘Let me look
into that,’ Marcia took out a pad and pen, ‘she might believe this
stuff if I say it. She hasn’t met you yet.’

‘Of course….’ I
shook my head. I had it fairly clear, it was getting a little fuzzy
now I had expended some energy being clever. Biscuits might be a
good idea. And tea.

‘So give me the
address. For Janey. And then we can talk about what we need to tell
Jules.’

I fetched the
letter. Marcia looked up at me appraisingly as she put the biro
away, ‘So this plan; we getting moving with it when?’

‘Tomorrow. Then
I have to think of what to say to Janey, after talking to
Jules…’

Marcia rolled
her eyes. Saving the world and I was still suffering the fanged
predator of male embarrassment.

‘Let’s just
talk to the brains first. We’ll worry about your personal angst
later. I’ll call back at four. Will that be enough time for you to
recover?’

‘I err….’ I
thought Marcia was amused, but her face was serious. I kept
forgetting about Jared. It just hurt. And she was still upright and
moving. And more to the point alive and on my team. Our team…. I
thought about George and the ring; but my head started to spin
round a bit then, so I stopped thinking about it all and put the
kettle on.

We knocked on
Jules’ door. I hadn’t rung him. I just didn’t want him freaking out
about Marcia while I wasn’t physically there to reassure him.

‘He’s taking
his time.’ Marcia shivered.

It was getting
cold out there. A few damp leaves littered a path to an untidy
garden and a porch. I rang the bell again. A light flicked on.

‘Friend or
Foe?’

‘Er…
Friend?’

Jules opened
the door. He was wearing a tee-shirt and shorts and had a mug of
tea in one hand.

‘Oh… Come in
Davey. Hi Marcia.’

We looked at
each other in a silent conversation of “what’s going on here”; “I
don’t know”.

He wandered in
to a front room littered with books and papers. Jules lifted a pile
of text books off the settee and pointed at it in a kind of vague
way.

‘I’m making
popcorn. Do you want some?’

I scanned the
small table in the middle of the room. Apart from a pair of
glasses, and a pile of books and papers; there was a whisky bottle
and a half empty glass.