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"What is it?" he said, stepping closer to me. "You've got a strange look on your face. If I didn't know you better, I'd say you were scared."
Time had been planning this for a very long time. And it had planned so very well.
"Start going through the items in the room," I told him. "I think you'll find most of it will be helpful in setting up Clive and Bryan in there."
"You think?" Rafe didn't sound convinced.
"Rafe," I said. "Time's been planning this for a while. It's put a lot of effort into it."
"Not sure I believe in this hocus pocus idea of yours, Jack. Time's not sentient."
"Take a look in there and then tell me what you think about Time being sentient. But that's not what worries me, Rafe."
He looked back at me and frowned. "Then what?"
I waved a hand at the door to the room and then the surrounding garden. "A lot of effort," I said. "Why?"
"'Cause it sees all and knows all," Rafe replied. "Like you told us."
"Think, Doctor," I told him in the voice I used to instruct. "Think. So much effort, over so long a period of time. It means something."
Rafe scratched at his head. "You're seeing things that aren't there, Jack," he said softly.
I shook my head, disappointed in him. "Go through the boxes, Rafe."
"I'm missing something, aren't I?" he said. It's one of the things I'd always admired about Rafe. He wasn't afraid to face his failures. He would make a fine Surgeon one day. If only he'd get off his arse and sit the exam.
"Yes, Rafe, I think you are."
"Just tell me, then. What do you think it means that Time's been preparing for this moment for years, for decades, maybe even for centuries? Hell, I don't know."
"That's the question, isn't it? Or maybe, the better question is, what could be so important about this moment that Time would spend so much time and energy preparing for it?"
Rafe was quiet for a while, and then he swore softly.
"Bloody hell," he said. "It has to be something big, doesn't it?"
"That, dear Doctor, is what has me so worried."
