Send Simon Savage #1 (14 page)

He pushed all his weight against one door, let Danice slip by and then threw himself through the narrowing gap. The doors shut with a grinding clunk.

‘
Whew
, tight fit!’ Simon gasped. He looked around and saw that they were standing in a brightly lit corridor.

‘It went this way!’ Danice said, following a red line that turned to the right around the next corner.

‘We’re heading straight to the reactor control room,’ Simon said, checking the plan of the station on his wrist pilot. ‘We’re close to it now.’

Danice stopped to peer cautiously around the corner. She nodded back at Simon. He came and took a peek. They were looking into a room that was alight with a bank of fluoro lights. The room contained a control desk in front of a long wall that bristled with gauges, dials and screens. They monitored every aspect of the station’s production and output.

‘Our objective is to check if there’s power going from here to the Chieftain’s place,’ Simon murmured, stepping slowly into the room. ‘Where’s that robot got to?’

‘Hopefully it’s not programmed to raise alarms,’ Danice said.

‘I doubt it,’ Simon replied. ‘It looked like some kind of service robot. It probably has pretty basic programming.’

As they reached the control desk, Simon flicked his eyes to the right. Beyond a glass window, a white-coated technician was sitting in a staff recreation area, his back to them as he stirred his tea.

‘The robot’s in there, I guess. Keeping that guy company,’ Danice said.

Simon turned back to the control panels. ‘The power outputs are along here,’ he said, pointing to a row of gauges marked CITY, FARMS, SOUTH. ‘Looks like the station provides power to these places. Those farms must be those Prison Farms you were telling us about.’

Danice nodded. ‘That’s where the Tribunes send anyone they don’t like. Such as people who break into their power plant.’

Simon frowned. ‘The power consumption looks pretty low at the Prison Farms.’

Danice pointed to the last gauge. ‘The Chieftain’s fortress is in the south.’

‘Look at the output on that gauge!’ Simon exclaimed. ‘There’s a lot of power going that way right now. Twice as much as to the other places.’

‘The Chieftain’s probably charging up his Time Accelerator,’ Danice said. ‘He always starts it a few hours before he needs it—sometimes a day before, if it’s a big mission. The further back in time we go, the longer he charges it.’

‘So he’s preparing for another gold grab?’

‘If he’s using that much power, he must be.’

‘Then that’s our next move. South.’

‘Back through the city,’ Danice said, ‘with just one stop.’

‘Where?’ Simon asked. ‘We have to stick to our orders. They don’t like us going off on wild-goose chases.’

‘Our stop’s on the way. I want to see my dad.’

‘I wish I could see my dad,’ Simon said, without thinking.

‘Why can’t you?’

Simon hesitated, then came out with the truth. ‘He’s dead.’

‘I’m sorry,’ Danice replied. ‘How did he die?’

For a second, Simon considered telling her about the secret investigation into his father’s disappearance. But it was too risky. ‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ he said. ‘Come on, let’s go and find your dad.’

20

‘B
igdad!’ Danice cried. She stood on her toes and threw her arms around her father’s shoulders.

‘Danice! You’re back!’ her father said in astonishment. He wrapped his great arms around her, casting a curious look over her head at Simon. ‘Come on, you and your friend had better get inside.’

‘Bigdad, this is Simon,’ Danice said, as the door closed behind them. ‘Simon, this is Bigdad.’

‘Hi,’ Simon said, looking up at the giant of a man. He was someone his own father would have described as ‘nearly seven foot on the old scale’. He was a complete contrast to Danice’s tiny-framed mother.

‘Some people call me David,’ he said with a wide smile. ‘Come, sit down. I’ve been worried. Where have you been, what have you been up to?’

They sat on wooden chairs in the poorly furnished kitchen. In the following half hour, Danice showed Bigdad the travel suit under her overalls, described her capture by the Time Bureau in sixteenth century Spain, gave a run-down of her basic training as a temponaut and explained the Bureau’s offer to help the family. She finished with their arrival and escape from the Big Forest that morning.

Bigdad turned to Simon. ‘And tell me, you’re from where?’

‘Bondi Beach. You know, Sydney, Australia in the twenty-first century,’ he replied, wondering if that really explained anything at all. The beach, surfing and high school seemed so alien and far away.

The explanation seemed to satisfy Bigdad, however. He nodded. ‘And what exactly is your mission here?’

Simon hesitated.

‘It’s okay,’ Danice reassured him. ‘Bigdad works in the Underground. You can tell him.’

‘I’m not sure that’s a good idea,’ Simon said. ‘Our mission plans are confidential.’

‘Simon, this is my father!’

Bigdad smiled. ‘Perhaps I can reassure you, Simon. The Underground is a group of people working to fight the Tribunes and their political system,’ he explained, pointing at a rough wooden shelf holding a few dozen well-worn books. ‘Some of us can still read. We know something about the freedoms of the past and we want to get rid of the slave system, establish schools, and change our way of life.’

‘We’re not allowed to live here with him,’ Danice said, with a sad glance at her father.

‘It’s against regulations for slaves to live with their families,’ Bigdad added.

‘Couldn’t you escape?’ Simon asked.

‘Yes, I could, very easily, like a lot of the others. But I can be more effective here, in the city.’ Bigdad smiled at Simon. ‘And we’ll help you, too, if we can.’

‘Thanks, but Danice and I can’t reveal the details of our mission,’ Simon said.

‘What do you mean?’ Danice said. ‘Who do you think he’s going to talk to? The Tribunes? Bigdad puts his life on the line all the time. He——’

‘Danice, it’s all right,’ Bigdad interrupted.

‘No, it’s not,’ Danice replied, glaring at Simon. ‘I’m telling you we can trust Bigdad.’

‘Okay, take it easy,’ Simon said. He glanced curiously at the big man. He seemed confident, honest and reliable. But Simon and Danice had been instructed not to reveal the complete details of the mission. ‘Well … er …’ he muttered, ‘we just have to find out a bit about the Chieftain and his time-travel system.’

Danice nodded. ‘The Chieftain’s powering up his Time Accelerator right now,’ she said.

‘He’s after more gold to keep the Tribunes happy,’ Bigdad sighed. ‘That’s a thankless task. No matter how much you give them, it’s never enough, and they’ll always demand more.’

‘We’re supposed to discover the exact location of his Time Accelerator,’ Simon said, ‘and find out who he really is. Danice says she’s never seen him, face to face.’

‘I’ve been into his throne room a couple of times, but he keeps his face always hidden under a hood.’ Danice shuddered. ‘He’s such a creepy man.’

‘I’ve never seen him either,’ Bigdad said, ‘but the Tribunes have. I hear they say he’s an old man. His set-up is basically just him and that sidekick of his, O’Bray.’

‘And a whole lot of tough guards,’ Danice reminded him.

‘Well, first things first,’ Bigdad said. ‘You’ll be hungry. Let’s find you something to eat.’ He stood up and went to a small bench in the corner. ‘You know, maybe the Underground
can
help you. We could create a distraction or two in the city to keep the Tribunes busy—and keep the Chieftain and his guards worried. Keep their minds on other things.’

‘Like what?’ Danice asked.

Bigdad smiled. ‘It won’t be hard for us to stir up some unrest. We’ve had plans for some time to challenge the Tribunes. Our followers in the Underground are keen to make some sort of statement—to shake things up a little, make trouble, show them that we’re not completely cowed.’

‘If it helps, I guess trouble sounds good,’ Simon said.

Danice frowned. ‘I don’t know, Bigdad. We wouldn’t want anyone getting hurt because of us.’

‘No one need get hurt,’ Bigdad assured her.

‘But we’re supposed to keep a low profile on these missions,’ Danice said. ‘Not make disturbances. Not affect history.’

‘Leave it to me,’ Bigdad said. ‘We know how to kick up a fuss without bringing the place down.’ He grabbed a half loaf of bread and started slicing it. ‘Anyway, you two should stay here till daybreak. It’ll take a while for me to start organising things. No point you heading off before we’ve got the distractions underway!’

‘We’ve only got forty-eight hours’ mission time,’ Simon said.

Danice yawned. ‘A bit of sleep will be good for us.’

Simon felt a surge of weariness, too. ‘Okay. But we’d better get moving before dawn. We’ve still got a lot of objectives to tick off our list before we go back.’

In the darkness, Damien crawled out of the city’s waste tunnel, closed the grille behind him and crept up the embankment. He took care to avoid the rivers of sludge running into the drain. The city was quiet, and, after the events of the day, the thought of resting a while in Bigdad’s house seemed like the promise of paradise.

He slipped across the open ground, then headed slowly and warily up the alley. Then he flinched as a scavenging rat gave a sharp squeak, leapt from a pile of rubbish and scuttled away.

‘Stay steady, stay easy,’ he murmured to himself. ‘Just a rat.’

Suddenly a gruff voice called out. ‘Halt! Stop there!’

Four burly men stepped out of the shadows of a doorway. Damien tensed. He looked around for an escape route.

‘Don’t even think about it,’ the gruff man said, grabbing Damien by the elbow. ‘We’ve been looking for you. The Chieftain wants to see you. Right now!’

21

The 16th Century, Sumatra

T
he gleaming beach and the green jungle beyond baked in the tropical sun.

Nick stood by the waterline, his hand resting against the shattered hull of the once-mighty Portuguese carrack, the
Coelho do Mar
. ‘Wow, big ship!’ he said.

The massive carrack had broken into two sections and looked like a whale stranded on the long white beach. Her bow was buried in the sand, and the breakers pounded against the timber planking of her stern, slowly reducing it to wreckage.

‘She weighed four hundred tonnes,’ Taylor said, lifting her feet carefully as she made her way through a tangle of torn sails, rigging and smashed spars. ‘She beached here and broke up when the typhoon hit.’

Ivan pointed to a jagged reef of wave-washed rocks further out in the bay. ‘There would have been trouble offshore, too. The ship probably crashed into those rocks and then ended up here.’

Taylor suddenly pointed to where the white body of a sailor lay at the shoreline. A black crab sat on his sea-wrinkled face and picked at his eyes with its claws. ‘I wish I hadn’t seen that,’ she muttered.

Nick crouched into ankle-deep water. ‘Hey, I can see a coin!’ he yelled.

‘There’s another one!’ Taylor said.

Ivan waded through the water towards her. Shiny, newly minted coins glinted like exotic shells all over the sandy sea-bottom. ‘They’re everywhere! Thousands of them!’ he cried.