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24
As Bad As This Moment Was Big
Jack
ThecoordinatesforClive'stime and location were stored in Orion 0. He'd left them there for me to find. I turned to look at Rafe, who stood just outside the hatch, having disconnected the MPCV from its power supply; a setup that he claimed was already here, waiting for us.
Time being prepared, at a guess.
I nodded my head to him. He nodded back. And just as he was closing the door, we both heard the emerging rip alarm. It was dimmer out here in the forgotten garden, but not as quiet as I would have thought it should be. As if there was a speaker nearby that no one knew about, one that carried any alarms to the very room we were setting ourselves up in to fight for RATS.
"That can't be good," Rafe muttered. "An old version of Sergei come to mess with us, you think?"
"I don't know," I said. "Anderson will deal with it."
"That's if Orion 6b is back yet. It was overdue."
"You didn't say whether Orion 2b was back from dropping off Mimi."
"I didn't, because it wasn't." He pulled a tablet computer out of a thigh pocket on his flight suit. "2b's not back, but 6b did get back five minutes ago."
"Rather convenient," I said, purposefully using that word.
"Yeah," Rafe murmured, pocketing the tablet again. "The rip's in Russia. It has to be an older version of Sergei."
My hand hesitated over the main console in front of me. Rafe started closing the door.
"Rafe," I said.
"Yeah, Jack?"
I turned to look at him. I wanted to see his reaction to what I said next.
"Why would an older version of Sergei be doing something in Russia? He only started down this path to get Lunik's secrets recently. Until now, he steered clear of his old memories. This has been a new project for him. A desperate last move, so to speak. So, why..."
"...would an older version be causing trouble in Russia?" Rafe finished for me. "Time's not linear, Jack," he reminded me.
"No, it's not," I said, looking down at the dimpled metal floor of the Orion.
"What are you thinking?" Rafe asked me.
"I think I need to talk to Clive Crawford."
"Best you get flying then, Doctor."
"Best I do," I agreed.
We shared one last look, and then he closed the hatch and turned the wheel. I checked the external camera feed to make sure he was standing well back and then rechecked the coordinates. With nothing left to do but hit the launch button, I braced myself and did just that.
Outside the Vehicle, a nebula formed. Inside, the roar of rocket engines reached me. G-forces came next, and then weightlessness as stars surrounded me. And finally, the engines kicked back in and the Orion touched down in what had to be the best landing I'd ever experienced.
Clive had made sure this module could get him home again safely.
The ticking of the engines sounded out in the quiet of the destination. Liquid oxygen released, depressurising the tanks; readying them for flight again when needed. I checked the coordinates matched the location and time. Somewhere out there was Clive Crawford, the exiled Chief Surgeon of RATS. I activated the cameras.
For a moment, I wondered if I had actually landed back at RATS in the overgrown garden. But the plants were slightly different — not fruit trees for one — and the season was slightly off. At RATS in my time, it was nearing winter. Clearly, here in Clive's time, it was spring. The overgrown garden was aflame in colour. Pretty cottage garden flowers had exploded in a riotous cacophony of every shade imaginable.
I locked the Vehicle down, then armed myself from the locker. The weapons would be out of time, but I had no idea what would face me out there. I needed to be prepared for anything. Clive's time wasn't as far back as Mimi's, but that didn't mean it wasn't as dangerous. Who knew what the old man had devised as protection for his family? If he thought Anderson would be back, he'd have a surprise waiting, I was certain.
