The Time Hunters (Book 1 of the acclaimed series for children of all ages) (18 page)

‘How could you?’ Uncle Percy replied. ‘But it is I
who should apologise. And I do. However, the story doesn’t end there, and I
think you know it.’ His expression grew serious again. ‘I have lied to you.
Well, at least, I haven’t told you the whole truth. And I think this is also
what
you’re wanting
to talk to me about isn’t it?’

‘There is something else, yes...’ Becky replied
nervously.

‘Then, please, ask. I’ll be as truthful as I can.’

‘It’s about my dad.’

‘I know.’

Becky felt her body tremble. ‘He was a time
traveller too, wasn’t he?’

Uncle Percy paused. ‘One of the finest...’

Chapter 26

Bird’s
Eye View

To Becky’s surprise, the confirmation her father had
been a traveller didn’t shock her at all. It had been the only answer from the
moment Edgar had recognised the Suman Stone. ‘Did you know he had the stone?’

‘No,’ Uncle Percy replied honestly. ‘Don’t forget,
he and I hadn’t talked for some time.’

‘D’you
think
he knew what
it was when he gave it to me?’

‘Absolutely not,’ Uncle Percy said assuredly. ‘I’m
sure he thought it was just a very unusual necklace. That’s all.’

‘So how did he get it?’ Becky said.

‘I’m afraid I have no answer to that.’

Becky gulped. Then something else occurred to her;
something that sent a chill through her bones. ‘Did mum know he was a
traveller?’

‘No. I don’t think so,’ Uncle Percy said. ‘I’m
certain she didn’t. You see, when your father first met your mother he was the
happiest I’d ever seen him, so content in his own time that his journeys became
less frequent. He just wanted to spend as much time with her as he could. The
more their relationship
grew,
the less incentive he
had to travel. In fact, although your father was a very brave man, I believe
for the first time in his life he was scared.’

‘Why?’

‘I think he found something in your mother he
couldn’t find in a lifetime of time exploration. He fell in love. He was scared
of losing that. He wasn’t prepared to risk the dangers of travelling anymore.
It was several years after they were married before he started travelling
again.’

‘And why was that?’ Becky asked.

A look of uncertainty crossed Uncle Percy’s face.
‘I’m not sure.’

‘Was it to do with the Fleece?’

‘I really can’t say.’

Becky nodded. ‘Was it you who first told him about
time travel?’

‘Actually, no,’ Uncle Percy said. ‘Bernard Preston
did. That’s why you may have heard his name before. Bernard was your father’s
tutor at University, you see, and your father his most gifted student. Your
father, like Bernard, was also a keen archaeologist. So, inevitably, when
Bernard introduced him to travelling, he took to it like a duck to water.
Personally, I wasn’t sure he was ready for it.’

‘Why not?’

Uncle Percy smiled fondly. ‘I just felt he possessed
certain qualities that, shall we say, are not conducive to safe time travel.’

‘Like what?’

‘Your father was somewhat hotheaded. I suppose I
just wanted to keep him out of harm’s way, for a few more years at least.’

Becky nodded. Then another question suggested
itself. ‘How does someone else know I’ve got the pendant?’

Uncle Percy took a heavy breath and drummed his
chin. ‘That is the most intriguing question of all, isn’t it? My honest answer
is that I don’t know. I suppose if this traveller found out what the pendant
was and realised your father had it,
then
it’s
possible he could have travelled to the moment when he gave it to you. But that
is just speculation.’

A wave of alarm swept through Becky. ‘But that -
that would mean I might have seen him.’

‘It’s possible. But there could be a thousand other
ways for him to find out.’

Becky took a moment to process the information.
‘Just one more question.’

‘Go ahead.’

‘What kind of time machine did dad have?’

Before Uncle Percy could answer, there was a breathless
voice from behind. ‘What are you two gassing about?’ Joe’s face shone with
sweat.
‘Becks,
come and hang off Edgar’s horns while
he exercises. It’s great fun.’

Becky grinned. Joe always seemed to pick the most inappropriate
times to interrupt. ‘I’m coming,’ she said, walking over to Edgar. As she did,
she glanced back at Uncle Percy. A spark had returned to his face as his lips silently
mouthed three words.
‘An
ice-cream van.’

Becky’s heart did a flip. Her dad’s time machine had
been an ice-cream van.
She could
remember it.
It was her first memory: she’d been sitting on the front lawn,
pulling the legs off her least favourite doll when he drove a ramshackle pink
ice cream van up the drive. To her mum’s embarrassment, he spent months
renovating it. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared … the same
ice-cream van that to this day, remained Becky’s favourite vehicle in the whole
world.

*

Becky and Joe played with Edgar for the next twenty
minutes, dangling from his horns as he whizzed round like a bizarre spinning
top. All the while, Uncle Percy remained at the prow, preoccupied with the sky.
He had a pair of what he called
Amnoculars
and trained them above.

Becky looked up but could see nothing but a tiny,
moving speck, which she assumed was a gull. She watched curiously as Uncle
Percy lowered the Amnoculars and whispered in Will’s ear.

‘What’s going on?’ Becky asked, walking over.

‘I’m not sure,’ Uncle Percy replied. ‘But do you see
that bird?’

She looked up at the sky and squinted.
 
‘Just about.’

‘It’s been following us for quite some time …’

‘So?’

‘So I think I’ve seen it before,’ Uncle Percy added.

‘What do you mean?’ Becky asked, confused.

‘I think it was at Bowen Hall on the night Bernard
was murdered.’ He nodded at Will.

Baffled, Becky reeled with horror as Will loaded an
arrow into his bow and pointed it into the air. ‘What are you doing?’ she
yelled at him.

‘Do it, Will,’ Uncle Percy said coolly.

‘NO!’ Becky cried. But it was too late. The arrow
had been fired.

Becky watched with dismay as it pierced the bird’s
neck and plummeted down, crashing into the water with a gigantic
splash
. Uncle Percy jumped in after it.

Becky was hysterical and glared at Will.
‘You murderer!’

Uncle Percy swam over, but the bird had vanished.
Taking a gulp of air, he plunged underwater and seized its ankles, appearing on
the surface seconds later.

Becky watched as he swam towards them, dragging the
bird’s carcass behind him. Will grabbed a length of rope and tossed it into the
sea. Uncle Percy caught it and heaved himself aboard.

‘Now, Becky, Joe,’ Uncle Percy said, smoothing back
his soaking hair. ‘That might’ve looked like a dreadful thing to do, but it
only
looked
that way.’ He
tossed the bird on the deck. It landed with a particularly heavy
clank
.

‘Dreadful?’ Becky screamed. ‘You just committed
murder! I should fire an arrow into your throat.’

Uncle Percy grinned. ‘Please don’t. And to murder
something it had to be alive in the first place.’

Becky wasn’t listening. ‘You’ve just killed an
innocent bird for no reason.’

Uncle Percy ignored her, picked up the bird and, in
one swift action, twisted its head off.

Becky yelped. However, instead of blood, she saw a
thick gust of smoke and thin, wispy sparks of electricity.

‘This is a very advanced piece of technology,’ Uncle
Percy said. ‘Joe, would you pass me a knife, please?’

Joe raced to the hull. He snatched a large knife
from an open sack of oranges and handed it over. ‘What is it?’

‘It’s a
Cyrobot
,’
Uncle Percy replied. Dropping to his knees, he plunged the blade into the
bird’s breastbone; it splintered to reveal a series of torn flesh, blood,
cabling and electronic circuits. ‘Look at the craftsmanship.’ He sounded
impressed. ‘I believe, what we have here is an Enthium exo-skeleton, a voice
relay tracking system, lycro-skin and solar-induced battery capacitors.’

‘I-it’s a robot?’ Becky felt a sudden urge to be
sick.

‘Of sorts.
A cyborg.’

‘Huh?’ Becky grunted.

‘It’s half-organic, half-mechanical,’ Uncle Percy
continued. ‘It
was
a bird, now
it’s a tool.
A very sophisticated tool.’

‘And it was following us?’ Joe said.

‘Indeed.’

‘Why?’ Joe said.

‘Because of this.’
Uncle Percy pulled out a small metal cube.

‘What is it?’ Joe asked.

Uncle Percy stood up, raised the box into the light
and examined it. ‘It’s a recording device and, unless I’m mistaken, a cellular
broadcaster. Someone, somewhere, is watching and listening to our every move.’
He dropped the cube onto the deck, raised his foot and smashed his heel down on
it. ‘At least they were.’

‘So you can make a Cyrobot out of any dead animal?’
Joe asked.

‘Yes.’

‘And you can maneuver it like a remote control plane?’

‘That’s the idea.’

Joe turned slowly to Becky, his face white as
marble.
‘The psycho budgie!’

Becky’s stomach tumbled. ‘Oh my God,’ she panted.

‘What is it, Becky?’ Uncle Percy asked quickly.

Becky couldn’t speak, so Joe did it for her.

‘Becks
was
attacked by this
mad budgie in our front garden a few hours before we came to Bowen Hall.’

‘And it kept aiming for my throat,’ Becky added quietly.
‘But it was after my pendant, not me.’

‘Then that’s something, isn’t it?’ Uncle Percy said,
trying to make her feel better.

‘I guess,’ Becky replied. ‘But I nearly let that same
budgie into my room just an hour before that. I nearly let the traveller into
my bedroom…’

*

In contrast with Becky, the discovery of the Cyrobot
seemed to raise Uncle Percy’s spirits. He spent the rest of the afternoon
forcing Becky and Joe to play the dullest round of I-Spy imaginable (‘I-Spy the
sea’ – ‘I-Spy the sky’) and taking Edgar’s lead in doing some exercise.

‘What’s put you in such a good mood?’ Becky asked
finally, watching him collapse after his second press-up. ‘We are being
followed!’

‘Correction.
We
were
being followed. That’s
precisely why I’m happy. And so long as there isn’t another Cyrobot disguised
as a bottle-nosed dolphin, then this traveller has no idea where we are.’

Day melted into night and Becky found herself lying
under a blanket, staring wistfully at the glittering stars above. The only
sound was the lapping of the water against the ship and the sail flapping as it
gathered every trace of wind. She had so many questions to ask Uncle Percy, but
judging by the soft snores coming from his bed now was not the time to ask
them. What she was most eager to know, however, was something she felt sure he
wouldn’t tell her: the topic of the argument between him and her dad.
 
What on earth could be so serious they hadn’t
spoken for so many years? She had no idea what it could be. And so she just lay
there, gazing at the heavens, as the ship glided through the ocean.

*

On the second day, Becky sensed a mild but tangible
air of tension as Uncle Percy busied himself by performing safety checks on
Bertha. Edgar spent most of the afternoon sketching a detailed map of Kera,
offering hushed words of advice to Will and Uncle Percy which were received
with nods and murmurs of agreement.

Becky awoke on the third morning to find Uncle
Percy, Will and Edgar staring fixedly on the horizon. She kicked her brother
awake and ran to join them.
 
‘Is that
it?’

‘It is,’ Edgar said in a low voice. ‘The Island of
Kera …’

‘It’s big,’ Joe yawned, appearing behind them. ‘Do
we know where we’re going when we get there?’

Uncle Percy held up the map. ‘We know exactly where
we’re going.’

As the island extended before them, Edgar lowered
the sails and took up the oars. Fighting the current, he steered the ship to
the shoreline. Kera was more imposing than Becky had expected. There were
sprawling golden beaches, exposed reefs of coral and emerald blankets of
scrubland. A vast, rust-coloured mountain range was just about visible.

Edgar guided the ship into the shallow waters,
towards a bay that clung to the shore like a giant horseshoe. Raising the oars,
he dropped anchor. Will positioned two wooden planks between Bertha and the
beach. After loading their belongings, Uncle Percy drove on to the sand, before
returning to the ship.

Uncle Percy, Will, Becky and Joe lined up before
Edgar, whose black eyes were misty and lifeless.

‘It’s time to say goodbye, Edgar,’ Uncle Percy said.
‘Thank you so much for everything.’

‘It has been an honour and a pleasure,’ Edgar said glumly.
‘Please, be careful.’

‘We will,’ Uncle Percy replied, extending his hand.