“He’ll be able to come into the present,” Claire said, wild-eyed, shaking uncontrollably. “The moat is drying up and soon he’ll come.”
Gabe reached down to pick up Moppet and put the dog into her arms. A big fat drop of rain plopped on to the ground beside them. And then another.
She turned her face upwards in amazement and joy. The drops were falling faster now, painful against her skin, but wonderful too.
“No, he won’t,” Gabe said confidently.
Later, as they sat on the verandah and watched the world through a curtain of rain, Gabe told her his story, which was her story, too.
“My grandfather had a photo of you. It belonged to his uncle Maurice. There was something secretive about the man, and my grandfather always had a suspicion it was to do with Helen. When Maurice died he told my grandfather that he and Helen had been lovers and that he’d tried to kill her, but she’d vanished. Just . . . vanished.”
“And your grandfather began to work on his time theory.”
“Exactly. Although I didn’t really believe in it until I found you four years ago. I knew who you were. I recognized you from the photo, and I remembered what he’d told me. It was you, Helen, but I was the only one who knew it.”
Claire rubbed her forehead. “The photo . . .” She went into the kitchen and found the old album, then carried it back to Gabe open at the photo in the back. “I thought this was Niall.”
Gabe shook his head. “Maurice. They were alike. Must have made it even harder for Maurice to end up working for the man he wished he could be.”
“If he couldn’t have me then Niall couldn’t either,” she whispered.
“I found you down in the reservoir. You were dressed in old-fashioned clothing, like something from a costume drama. I got rid of the clothes, pretended I’d found you up in the hills. I didn’t want them poking around the homestead with so much of it exposed, but it started to rain about then anyway. I hoped it would keep raining but it didn’t, and . . .”
“And I decided to find my past,” she said, reaching for his hand. “I wish I’d trusted you, Gabe.”
“I wish I’d trusted you, but you see my difficulty? When you couldn’t remember anything it was a blessing for me, really. But I always knew that eventually your memory would return and then we would have to deal with it. I thought I’d tell you everything then.”
They sat a moment in silence, contemplating the incredible truth.
Gabe smiled. “I meant what I said before. I’ve been in love with you all my life. I feel like I’ve known you all my life.”
Her own smile trembled at the edges. “But who am I, Gabe? Helen or Claire?”
“Who do you want to be?”
“Claire,” she said. “I’ve grown up from Helen, I’m different now. I want to be Claire.”
“Then Claire you shall be. And just in case someone tries to make trouble . . .” He slipped a photo from his pocket and handed it to her. Claire looked down into her own face, held stiff and unsmiling as the old-fashioned equipment recorded her image. She held one corner to the candle flame and watched it burn, turning the past and all its bad memories into ash. She raised her chin and kissed Gabe’s lips.
Sexual Healing
Margo Maguire
One
The Old City. Autumn,AD2743
The temperature was well modulated in the residential unit and the sound level comfortable as D499-DG-098 observed the chairperson addressing the group.
“The population decline has reached a critical level,” said M277-CZ-398. She was the leader of GreenPiece, an ancient organization believed to have promoted the good health of the planet. It had been revived in recent years to address the concerns of the world’s troubled scientists.
M277’s demeanour was perfectly calm as she stated the fact they all knew. In 237 years, humanity would die out, becoming extinct, leaving only the fauna and flora to prosper without restraint. “The spiral will soon be irreversible,” she added.
“It’s time, then. Have we decided who will go?” one of the members asked. “D499 seems the likely candidate since he can gain access to a tempis-disc.”
D499-DG-098 remained on the fringe of the room, and listened with a growing fascination. The biologists of GreenPiece had studied the problem of the Federation’s population decline from many different angles, and had come to one simple conclusion. In order to save the human race, the inventor of Fusion XJ would have to be stopped before his creation came to fruition – before it could render increasing numbers of humans essentially infertile.
GreenPiece was meeting in M277’s unit, ostensibly a study group, so that the authorities would not perceive any change in social conduct. The Federation strictly enforced the Natural Progression, and interfering with past events was absolutely forbidden. The world had become a balanced place, where emotions were subdued and rationality prevailed. Where war and famine did not exist, nor violence or disease. Where knowledge was king.
