Send Simon Savage #1 (23 page)

‘Then where did you find it?’

‘I made quite a few expeditions back in time myself.’ Hale ran his fingers across the wrinkled skin of his face. ‘It’s taken its toll on me, as you can see. But it was worth it. I found a lot of this collection in just a few trips to a Seed Bank in northern Norway. It had been sealed up in the twenty-second century … and left for me to find!’

Hale produced another jar of tiny seeds. ‘These will grow high-yield carrots.’

‘I hate carrots.’

‘So I recall.’ Hale put the jars back in their places. ‘It took me a while to learn of the devastation to agriculture and food production in this world as it exists now.’ He shrugged. ‘I couldn’t do much to help people of my own time. So these seeds are my gift to the twenty-fourth century. They might help Earth’s population as it starts to re-establish itself.’

Simon lifted his eyebrows and smiled. ‘Interfering with history … again.’

‘It doesn’t matter how we try to disguise it,’ Hale replied, ‘we are always changing things when we time travel. It comes with the job. You’ll learn that as you travel more across the centuries.’

‘Maybe I will, maybe I won’t,’ Simon said. ‘I found you, Dad. I guess that’s all I really wanted to do. Maybe I won’t want to stay with the Time Bureau after this.’

‘There’s a very good reason for you to stay,’ Hale said. ‘Mainly because your mum and Lil——’

A loud buzz suddenly interrupted him, and Simon was left wondering what his father had been about to tell him.

‘Hold on,’ Hale said, picking up the receiver from a wall phone. ‘Hello … Yes, O’Bray …’ As Hale listened, his face changed quickly from interest to concern. ‘Very well. Put the Spin Box on standby. Yes, make all preparations.’ Hale hung up. ‘We have to return to the surface. The Tribunes are making trouble!’

‘What sort of trouble? Where?’

‘Big trouble, right here. They want my gold, I guess.’ Hale took off his coat and threw it aside. ‘I’ve been expecting this. Those men have just been biding their time.’

‘We have to get back to Danice!’ Simon said.

‘We’ll look after her. She’s in safe hands.’

Simon followed his father into the passageway and watched as he activated the code lock outside.

‘My Seed Bank will have to stay sealed up for a while longer,’ Hale said. ‘For a better day! Earth will revive, Simon.’

The thick steel door slowly rumbled out from its recess in the rock. Within a few seconds, it had slammed shut, sealing the seed room tight again.

‘Come on!’ Hale said.

They hurried back towards the elevator.

‘Dad, why did you order the activation of the Spin Box?’

Hale didn’t answer.

Simon silently followed his father along the tunnel. He had a bad feeling about what might happen next.

31

T
he ground rumbled underfoot as another explosion from outside rocked the Chieftain’s fortress.

O’Bray hurried across to Hale as he and Simon left the elevator and entered the main cave. ‘They’re attacking us outside the northern gate,’ he said. ‘And they’re coming from the west, up the cliffs from the forest! We can’t fight them off on two sides!’

Simon turned to his father. ‘Is all this just to get your gold, Dad?’

O’Bray stared in astonishment. ‘He’s … your son?’ He blinked, then quickly recovered. ‘Boss, the Tribunes think you’re behind all the trouble in the city and the riot out at the Prison Farms.’

Simon felt a tinge of guilt. He was responsible for the prison riot. And partly responsible for the city riots, too.

‘The Tribunes arrested some of the rioters in the city. Three of them were those guards we recently fired for being troublemakers. The Tribunes think the guards are still working for you and that you’ve incited them to revolt,’ O’Bray said. ‘They think you’re making some sort of grab for power.’

‘And who would have given them that impression, eh, O’Bray?’ Hale asked.

O’Bray shrugged. ‘Who knows?’

‘Then tell me, how do you know the cause of these things so soon after they’ve occurred?’

‘The riots in the city and at the Farms have been going all day, boss.’

Hale gave him a steely glare. ‘Who, amongst all your informants, had time to come and give you this information, and yet wasn’t able to give us warning about an attack from the Tribunes?’

O’Bray avoided meeting Hale’s gaze. ‘I don’t know. But we don’t have enough men to hold out against so many. The situation is serious——’

Another explosion trembled through the walls. The skull of a sabre-toothed tiger wobbled and fell with a crash.

O’Bray twitched nervously. ‘I’ve also heard that some slaves have stolen an airship in the city.’

Simon was pleased to hear the news, but kept his thoughts private.

‘Good on them,’ Hale said. ‘I wish them luck.’ He took a long look around the cave. ‘Well, the Tribunes can take what they want. I’m not staying around to fight. O’Bray, I’ll leave the troubles outside to you. Continue the fight, surrender, do whatever you please. Meanwhile, it’s time to implement my emergency exit strategy.’

Simon couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing. ‘Dad?’ he asked.

His father ignored him.

‘The Accelerator is powering up and will be ready shortly,’ O’Bray said.

‘And I’ll take my reserve supply of gold with me.’

‘Yes, boss.’

‘Dad, where are you going?’ Simon asked with sudden panic. It had only just sunk in that his father wasn’t organising resistance to the Tribunes: he was getting ready to leave.

‘Simon! Simon!’ Danice’s voice suddenly echoed through the cave.

More shells exploded outside.

Danice stood in the doorway to the next chamber.

‘And yes, there’s the question of the girl!’ O’Bray said.

‘She’s free to go home,’ Hale replied. ‘Or wherever she wants to go. Get things organised for me.’

O’Bray nodded. ‘Yes, boss, right away.’ He brushed past Danice and headed towards the elevator.

Hale gave a half smile. ‘He’ll be glad to see me go. He’s been keen to get his hands on my riches for a long while.’

Danice stood silently, wary about entering the Chieftain’s cave uninvited.

‘Danice! It’s all right, come in,’ Simon said.

She came forward and bowed from habit. She tried to hide her astonishment at finding the Chieftain without the hood disguising his face.

Hale laughed. ‘It’s okay, you don’t have to bow to me any longer.’

‘He’s my dad,’ Simon said, and grabbed his father’s arm.

Danice backed away in confusion. Her eyes flicked uncertainly from Simon to Hale. ‘But, Simon, you told me your father was dead!’ she said.

‘That’s because I thought he
was
dead,’ Simon said. ‘But he isn’t. He’s been here. And you’ve been working for him.’

‘It’s all been a disguise,’ Hale explained. ‘I’m in hiding from my own time. And I had to create an impression of power in order to live here.’

Danice stared at Hale for a long time, trying to make sense of what she’d been told. Then she took a deep breath. ‘So, you’re not from our time, and this has all been an act?’ she said.

‘Yes,’ Hale replied.

‘But you terrorised my whole family! Damien and I thought you’d kill us if we didn’t do what you said!’

Hale looked grave. ‘I’m truly sorry, Danice. I didn’t want to cause you any suffering. But there was no other way. Please forgive me.’

Danice opened her mouth as if to yell at him. But she paused, and sighed. ‘Well, now I’m not scared of you any more. And I’m glad my family won’t have to go on any more missions.’ She winced and turned to Simon. ‘I’m sorry. I said all those rotten things about … the Chief … about your dad.’

Simon glanced at his father. ‘It’s okay. He deserved it.’

There was a renewed stutter of small-arms fire nearby.

Hale moved to Simon and took his shoulders with both hands. ‘You’re not going to like this, son, but I have to leave.’

‘No, Dad!’ Simon exclaimed. ‘I just found you!’

Hale gazed down at Simon with all the warmth he could muster. ‘The Tribunes won’t show me any mercy, and you know better than anyone that the Time Bureau’s hot on my trail.’ He smiled. ‘At least you know I’m not dead. I’m alive and kicking.’

‘I won’t tell them,’ Simon said. ‘I’ll say I didn’t find you. You could go to these Far Lands. Escape out there. But please don’t go where I won’t know where you are!’

‘If you know where I am, it might get me out of the reach of the Tribunes. But it won’t protect me from the Time Bureau. The Bureau is ruthless: it sent my own son to find me. It doesn’t want time travellers it can’t control.’ He paused. ‘And I’m not going to let them control me.’

‘What about Mum and Lil?’ Simon asked.

There was a welling of tears in Hale’s eyes, which he quickly blinked away. ‘Don’t worry, I’m sure they’ll be all right.’

‘You were going to tell me something about them … earlier. When we were down in the Seed Bank.’

‘No time for that,’ Hale replied. ‘You’ll find out soon enough.’

Simon felt panic rise in his throat. ‘Then … tell me
where
you’re going!’

‘This may very well be my last journey, Simon. My body won’t take much more. But I’ve found a safe place to hide—and to live.’

‘Dad, no!’

‘I can’t tell you where I’m going. If you knew, don’t you realise there are people out there who would stop at nothing to get what they want from you? I won’t let them hurt you.’ Hale drew Simon into a strong hug. He smiled at Danice. ‘He’s a good lad. Look after him, will you?’

Danice could only nod.

Simon took a moment to think. ‘But, Dad, what about your Time Accelerator?’ he said. ‘What if someone else here gets hold of it?’

‘That’s all right, I’ve built in a self-destruct mechanism. It will activate a few minutes after I leave.’ Hale looked at them both intently. ‘Look, it would be best for you to make immediate plans to get away, too. How long’s your mission time?’

‘It was originally forty-eight hours,’ Simon replied. ‘We missed the scheduled pick-up but the TPS will return every eight hours.’

‘Till they decide to cancel the operation,’ Danice added.

‘When’s the next one due?’ Hale asked.

Danice checked her wrist pilot. ‘Dawn. Seven hours.’

‘Then get back to the pick-up point. Lie low. Wait for extraction,’ Hale said. ‘Can you do that?’

‘Sure,’ Danice said. ‘The only problem is getting there through all that trouble outside.’

‘Dad, take me with you!’ Simon pleaded one last time.

‘No,’ Hale said. ‘I can’t.’ He lifted Simon’s chin. ‘Don’t think badly of me for running off like this.’ Then he handed Simon a folded note. ‘And read this when I’ve gone.’

Simon took it, but he didn’t trust himself to speak. He couldn’t believe he was losing his dad for a second time. He clenched his teeth to make sure he didn’t cry.

‘Bye, son! Be careful.’ Hale hesitated for a moment, then strode decisively to the next chamber and the elevator.

Simon followed for a few paces. ‘Bye, Dad!’

Hale looked back through the doorway, nodded and stepped into the lift. A few seconds later the doors slid shut and he was gone.

Simon blinked back tears.

‘It’ll be all right,’ Danice said. ‘He must know what he’s doing.’

‘He’s good at leaving,’ Simon said bitterly. ‘He knows how to do that, all right.’

‘What does the note say?’

Simon unfolded the paper, not noticing a photograph fall out of it to his feet.

There was more gunfire outside.

‘We don’t have time for this now,’ Simon said, and refolded the note. ‘Our mission’s over. Let’s get back to the pick-up point so we can go home and report to the Bureau.’

Danice took the note away from him. ‘Wait,’ she said. ‘This could be important.’ She studied the note for a second before showing it to him. On it was a roughly drawn map with some scribbled writing in the margin.

‘It’s a diagram of the Seed Bank,’ Simon said, looking closer, ‘and this is Dad’s writing.
Give to David
, it says. Who’s David?’

‘Maybe my father? His name is David,’ Danice replied. ‘But only my father’s very close friends call him by his first name. Do you think my dad knows your dad?’

Simon shrugged. ‘My dad seemed pretty pleased to hear that the Underground had captured an airship.’

‘What! When?’ Danice cried out. ‘How did you know that?’

‘It happened sometime today, during the riots in the city,’ Simon said. ‘Dad’s offsider told us just a few moments ago.’

‘That’s been one of Bigdad’s plans for a long time. To get an airship and go and explore the Far Lands.’ Danice held up the map. ‘Then this Seed Bank might have something to do with the Far Lands.’

‘Dad told me the Seed Bank was meant as a gift to the people of your time. You think the gift is for
your
dad?’

‘It could be. If we get the chance, we’ll ask him,’ Danice replied.

‘First, we’d better find a way to get out of here,’ Simon said. ‘It isn’t going to be easy!’

Then he spotted something on the floor. It was a worn and wrinkled family photo of Hale, Glenda, Lil and himself. He grabbed it, stuffed it into his thigh pouch, and followed Danice outside.